Ashes to be Smith's biggest Test: Ponting

Forget winning in India, forget taking a team from rock bottom to five straight Test wins and definitely forget the Champions Trophy, Steve Smith’s career as captain will be judged on winning the Ashes.

That proclamation comes from Australia’s most successful Test captain Ricky Ponting, who presented Smith with his Baggy Green on Test debut in 2010 and has watched the current skipper’s record-breaking career every step of the way.

Ponting led Australia to 48 Tests wins – the most by any Australian, including a 5-0 Ashes whitewash in 2006-07 – but there is a black spot on his captaincy Curriculum Vitae: two Ashes series losses in England.

England pulled off perhaps the biggest Ashes turnaround in history to win the captivating 2005 series while four years later Ponting’s men lost key moments and the series 2-1.

It’s a fact Ponting cannot hide from and one he’s reminded of every time he returns to the mother country. 

Now Smith, who has been in charge of the Test side full-time for 18 months, will enter his first Ashes series at the helm when England travel down under next summer.

And no task is greater or more important than beating the Old Enemy, according to Ponting.

"(Smith) has got his biggest challenge coming up," Ponting told Fox Sports. 

"An Ashes series as an Australian or England captain is the biggest thing that you play for and the biggest thing of your captaincy life. 

"Fortunately or unfortunately, it’s those series that you are remembered for as a leader and as a player as well."

The captaincy, so far, has sat well with the 28-year-old.

In 24 Tests as skipper, Smith has polished off 2,711 runs at an average of 73.27 with 12 centuries.

Only the incomparable Sir Donald Bradman had more runs or hundreds after two dozen Tests behind the wheel. 

Smith’s leadership turned a corner after the humiliation in Hobart last summer when South Africa humbled his side to secure the Test and wrap up the series with a match to spare.

Heads rolled, both players’ and selectors’, as Smith demanded his troops to show the absent resilience that had defined successful Australian teams for more than a century.

Smith’s calls were met with five consecutive wins, the last of which coming in Pune in the first Test of the Qantas Tour of India.

It was Australia’s first Test triumph in the subcontinent in 12 years, and while the visitors were ultimately beaten 2-1, Smith stamped his class with three centuries in the series – the first Australia captain to do so in India. 

It might be still early days in Smith’s career – which sits at 12 wins, seven loss and five draws – but Ponting likes what he’s seen so far.

"I think Steve Smith has done a terrific job captaining the Australian team," Ponting said. 

"He’s got a very level head on his shoulders, he’s obviously playing the best cricket of his life right at the moment, which says a lot about how the responsibility sits with him."