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Former Australian cricket captain Allan Border has defended Ricky Ponting's captaincy in the face of criticism following Australia's dismal performances in both the Test matches of the Ashes series.

"When Ricky took over with the likes of Warne and McGrath, the team wasn't all that different and he kept the ball rolling after Steve Waugh. The challenges came for him in 2005 in England when he didn't have a fit McGrath and it became more difficult. I think he's learned from that and become a really good leader," The Daily Telegraph quoted Border, as saying.

Ponting has had to face criticism following Australia's 115 run defeat at Lord's, where they played some dreadful cricket before recovering too late.

He was also criticised for his bowling changes in the first Test match at Cardiff, where they were unable to dislodge the last pair of Jimmy Anderson and Monty Panesar in more than 11 overs that they had.

Border further highlighted that Ponting is currently handling an inexperienced team and insisted that sometimes a captain was often only as good as his bowlers.

"The boys really like playing for him. That's all you can do really.

The rest of it is down to what sort of cattle you've got at your disposal and how they're playing," Border said.