Ponting feels “bittersweet” about going past Border’s Test run record

WARWICKSHIRE - “I’ve got a bittersweet taste in my mouth today (Friday) after getting past the (Allan Border) record,” said Australian cricket captain Ricky Ponting after being dismissed for 38 on the second day of the third Ashes Test.

At the start of play, Ponting, on 17, needed eight more runs to overtake Border’s Test run record of 11, 174. He achieved that with ease. But he was caught behind trying to hook and claimed he was unhappy with himself for exposing Australia’s middle-order to England’s reverse swing barrage.

“I am trying to do the best I can to win games for the team and today I felt like I let a few of us down,” The Telegraph quoted Ponting, as saying.

“”Michael Clarke and I had a reasonable partnership going and then I got out and exposed some of our other batters to some good quality bowling. It’s a strange sort of feeling right at the moment,” he added.

Ponting said he has been aware of the looming record for several weeks but insisted the milestone would not mean much until he finished his career.

“When I finish my career it will probably mean a little bit more than it does right at the moment. Those sort of milestones have never meant a great deal to me on the way through,” Ponting said. (ANI)