It has become the theme of Ricky Ponting's farewell from Test cricket: the guard of honour.
It was Monday of last week that Graeme Smith called his South African team to an impromptu guard as the 168-Test veteran made his way to the middle for the last time in a Test match; a powerful moment, one that will live long in the memory.
Today on the day of the Ponting era plus one, the now ex-Test player turned out in a sharp suit in shiny shoes, the whites and the baggy green nowhere to be seen.
This time two guards of honour represented the extremes of his career, where it began and where it ended.
Decked out in the maroon and yellow of the Mowbray Eagles were a selection of players from the club team with which Ponting so strongly identifies, some of whom still know him as the gifted and talented team-mate he always was.
The guard of the Mowbray men was a way of finishing with those who it began.
The farewell lap of Bellerive had otherwise followed a well-choreographed pattern. Ponting sat on the tray of a ute in a garden chair accompanied only by his two young daughters. The lap of the ground proceeded at a steady respectful pace and the response from the Tasmania crowd was generous and predictably warm.
On this Friday the most generously populated area of the ground is the hill and in the dry area groups of primary school children soaked up their own experience of the closing of a significant chapter of cricket history.
The-ex player whose career was well advanced before they were born passed steadily by.
The lap of honour proceeded past a less well-populated southern stand and made its way past the players pavilion. There another guard of honour had formed, this time from the Australian team itself, until last week all of whom were Ponting's team-mates.
Breaking out of lunchtime routines the team paid its own tribute. David Warner, still seething over his last-over run-out, was there still padded up. The ups and downs, the vagaries of the game were forgotten for these symbolic moments, the passing of an era.
Ponting's gestures were as unfussed as the way he played the game itself. Clearly genuinely appreciative of this farewell gesture he said "it's not about me, it's about the people who've followed me and supported me for so long. I had all my sad days in Perth, this is a happy day."
His extended family was looking on all the while. His parents Graeme and Lorraine, as always not inviting or seeking the limelight, played their part and watched on with justifiable pride.
The crowd was given one last chance to show their appreciation as the ceremony came to an end.
Clutching yet another memento from the game, an engraved decanter of appreciation from Cricket Australia, Ponting gave one final wave to the crowd.
There'll be other games and public appearances to come, other chances to see him play but today when he walked into the members' area and out of the pale summer sun the great batsman moved into a new phase of his life.
The international career of Ricky Ponting is now officially over.
Tags: cricket, sport, hobart-7000, tas, australia First posted December 14, 2012 15:08:30
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