Australia cruised to a thumping nine-wicket victory at The Gabba on Saturday, as England's good work on day three was totally undone.
Nathan Lyon led the way for Australia in the morning session, taking four wickets and bringing up his 400th in Test cricket. England managed just 77 runs as they surrendered their last eight wickets, taking them to a total of 297, having begun day four on 220-2.
Australia were set 20 runs for victory and easily reached the total following lunch, despite the loss of Alex Carey.
Mitchell Starc's dismissal of Rory Burns with the very first ball in Brisbane rather set the tone for a Test in which England were always behind the eight-ball, and former Australia skipper Ponting believes there could be a similar outcome to the hosts' 5-0 triumph in the 2006-07 series.
Having ended Australia's eight-series winning streak with victory in 2005, England went Down Under with a point to prove 18 months later, but Ponting's side cruised to a series whitewash.
Indeed, England have not won a Test in Australia since they triumphed 3-1 in the 2010-11 series, suffering 5-0 and 4-0 defeats in their subsequent trips.
After the day-night Test in Adelaide, the series goes to Melbourne, Sydney and then finishes in Hobart, which has replaced Perth as the final venue.
"The conditions are only going to get better for Australia," former Test captain Ponting told cricket.com.au.
"Those conditions [in Brisbane] were very English-like. There was more pace and bounce but as far as their bowling is concerned, they're probably not going to get that much movement anywhere else for the entire series.
"We saw them bowl really well on the last tour in Adelaide under lights where everything just fell perfectly into place – Australia had to bat for a session, the lights were on, brand-new ball, clear night.
"We've also been to Adelaide at other times when the pink ball has done nothing, whether it's a new ball or not. If they don't win in Adelaide then there could be shades of '06-07."
Though Ollie Robinson and Mark Wood bowled well in Brisbane, eyebrows were raised by England's decision to leave out both Stuart Broad and James Anderson.
Such surprise was a sentiment shared by Ponting.
"I can't see why they would have left them [Broad and Anderson] out if they weren't just getting them prepped and ready for Adelaide," said Ponting.
"I'm still staggered to this point now. If Stuart Broad and James Anderson are not better bowlers in Australia than Chris Woakes, then I'm not here. One of those two had to play.
"It might be that they're only going to play one of Broad or Anderson in Adelaide. A lot of it might just depend on how [Ben] Stokes pulls up between now and the start of the Adelaide game."
England slumped to another heavy defeat in Adelaide as Australia cruised into a 2-0 series lead.
The tourists now head to Melbourne for the Boxing Day Test in need of a victory to stand any chance of regaining the Ashes. Australia will retain the urn if they win or the match finishes as a draw.
A frustrated Root was critical of his side's display in his post-match media duties, and in particular England's bowlers as Australia accumulated 703 runs across their two innings.
"I think when you look at ball in hand in particular, I don't think we've bowled the right lengths if we're being brutally honest, we needed to bowl fuller," he said.
"As soon as we did in that second innings, we created so many chances and we made it hard work. We need to do that more, we need to get the ball up there, be a bit braver because when we do, we make life difficult."
These comments, however, annoyed former Australia skipper Ponting, who told cricket.au: "I nearly fell off my seat when I heard that!
"Whose job is it then to make them change? Why are you captain then?
"If you can't influence your bowlers on what length to bowl, what are you doing on the field?
"Joe Root can come back and say whatever he likes but if you're captain, you've got to be able to sense when your bowlers aren't bowling where you want them to.
"And if they're not going to listen, you take them off, simple as that.
"Give someone else a chance that is going to do it for you. Or you have a really strong conversation with them on the field to tell them what you need. That's what captaincy is all about."
Ponting also suggested England bowled better when Root was off the field at the start of day four.
"The interesting thing for me is the only time they bowled full in the game was when Joe Root wasn't on the ground," he said.
"The start of day four when they had a meeting on the ground before play started, Ben Stokes took over the captaincy, and that was the only time in the game they pitched the ball up."
The 37-year-old will complete his stage-by-stage international retirement at the conclusion of the tournament, where Australia begin their campaign against Oman on Thursday.
The reigning Cricket World Cup winners and World Test champions, who will also play England, Scotland and Namibia in Group B, are aiming to complete the sweep of global international honours in the United States and West Indies.
Warner would be one of four players to have appeared in all three finals, along with Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins and Travis Head.
A steady and injury-hit Indian Premier League season with the Delhi Capitals - led by three-time World Cup winner Ponting - led to question marks over his selection for this competition.
But, to Ponting, Warner's inclusion was never in doubt, and he is backing Jake Fraser-McGurk - the winner of the IPL's 2024 Electric Striker of the Season award and a travelling reserve - to fill the void when he brings the curtain down on his international career.
"He's the sort of character you want to have around your team, especially in big tournaments like World Cups," Ponting told ESPNcricinfo.
"He's just one of those natural winners. Everything he does, he wants to win. You can see that with his attitude in the field and the way he goes about his cricket.
"There's more than just the runs that we'll be missing when Warner finally is gone. But hopefully, the depth of Australian cricket is good enough to find someone to come in and fill that void."
"It's going to be a really big set of shoes to fill, there's no doubt about that. They have got a lot of depth there.
"I'd be very surprised if he [Fraser-McGurk] doesn't go straight into the T20 team when David's finally done. I was lucky enough to coach him at the Delhi Capitals this year as well. He's got extreme talent."
The soon-to-be 24-year-old Guyanese power hitter has been assigned the role of closer for the Delhi Capitals and demonstrated what he is capable during his 24-ball 45 against the Rajasthan Royals last week Friday.
Capitals coach Ponting, he said, noticed that he needed some work on his pull shot and set about taking the talented batsman under his wing.
“He is right now working on my pull shot,” the rising West Indies batsman revealed during a recent interview.
“He has observed that in last few games, people have been bowling short to me. So far he is working on my pulling and he has done one hell of a job with me. He is teaching me the art of being a better finisher and I am getting there gradually."
He said that in addition to the lessons he is taking from Ponting, he is also gradually warming to his new role.
"The role of a floater is not something that I was accustomed to really. I am still working towards getting better with each and every game," he said. "What I try to do now is to ensure that every game, I have to hit a six. At least, one six. Working towards that at moment.".
At Melbourne's Junction Oval, a Ricky Ponting XI beat an Adam Gilchrist XI by one run, with superstar line-ups turning out in support of the relief effort.
Former Australia captain Ponting made 26 from 14 balls and West Indies great Lara plundered 30 in the 10-overs-a-side match, as the Ponting XI made 104-5 from their allocation.
In the reply, Gilchrist scored 17 before he was bowled by former Australian rules star Luke Hodge, before Shane Watson cracked three sixes in a nine-ball 30 and Andrew Symonds added 29.
Ponting, Lara, Watson and Symonds all retired to give others a chance to shine in the charity contest, which saw bowlers including Peter Siddle, Courtney Walsh, Wasim Akram and Dan Christian come in for some uncharitable treatment from batsmen.
Brett Lee's 2-11 from two overs bucked the trend, as the former Baggy Green paceman took the wickets of Gilchrist XI stars Brad Hodge and Yuvraj Singh.
Tendulkar, who was named coach of the Ponting XI, made a crowd-pleasing cameo between innings when he faced an over shared by Ellyse Perry and Annabel Sutherland.
The Gilchrist XI then needed five from the final ball of their 10 overs, but ex-Aussie rules footballer Nick Riewoldt, attempting to club a six, could only scramble a three to leave his team just short on 103-6.
Cricket Australia centred the match around its Big Appeal campaign, with television coverage taking the match to a large audience, and its fundraising was boosted by an online auction.
At least 33 people died in Australia's bushfire crisis, with wildlife taking the brunt and homes and large areas of land being destroyed.
Pant was appointed Delhi Capitals skipper ahead of the 2021 IPL with Shreyas Iyer impacted by a shoulder injury.
The India wicketkeeper-batsman retained the role on a permanent basis and will come up against Rohit when Delhi start their IPL campaign with a showdown against Mumbai on Sunday.
Capitals coach Ponting championed Rohit to be installed as Indians skipper during the former Australia captain's time with that franchise and the batter has proved to be an impressive leader - lifting the IPL trophy five times.
Rohit has also taken over from Virat Kohli as India captain and Ponting believes Pant, 24, has the credentials to have that honour.
Ponting said: "I hadn't thought about that actually but they [Pant and Rohit] are actually quite similar.
"When Rohit took over at Mumbai, he was quite a young man as well, and had started out in his international cricket.
"He was probably very similar, I'm not sure how old he was but he would have been 23-24, similar to what Rishabh is here at the Delhi Capitals.
"To tell you honestly, they're quite similar people. I know they are great mates and they talk all the time and they're probably exchanging things about leadership and captaincy along the way as well.
"Rohit probably doesn't want to give too many secrets away because we're going to play against him in a couple of days' time. I think there's every opportunity for Rishabh's journey to be similar to Rohit Sharma's.
"He's a young captain of a successful franchise and growing on a daily basis and hopefully Rishabh can have the same sort of success Rohit's had at the Mumbai Indians.
"And then with some experience in a role like this in a high-pressure tournament like the IPL, I've got no doubt in the years to come there's every chance that Rishabh could be an international captain. No doubt about it."
Ponting was taken to hospital after suffering chest pains while he was commentating for Channel 7 on the third day of Australia's first Test against West Indies at Optus Stadium.
The legendary 47-year-old was back at work on Saturday, when he expressed his gratitude to his ex-Australia team-mate Justin Langer and those who gave him the best possible hospital treatment in Perth.
He told Channel 7: "I probably scared a lot of people yesterday and had a scary moment for myself. I was sitting in the comms box halfway through the stint and got a couple of really short and sharp pains to my chest.
"I tried to stretch it out and get rid of it, and probably didn't want to give too much away when I was on air. I had a couple of those incidents, got through the stint and went to walk to the back of the commentary box and got lightheaded and dizzy and grabbed the bench.
"I mentioned to JL [Langer] on the way out, who was commentating with me, that I had had these pains in my chest and Chris Jones [executive producer] heard me and just reacted straight away and got me out of there.
"Ten or 15 minutes later, I was in the hospital getting the best treatment that I possibly could. I feel great this morning, I am all shiny and new this morning.
"I think the bottom line is, the fact that I was willing to share it with JL and the fact that your mate looks after you, I think as people of our age, we are a little reluctant to share much or talk about our health.
"I think that is a good learning curve for me yesterday, especially with what has happened in the last 12-18 months to really close people around us.
"My little mate looked after me and got me down there and I'm back, shiny and new this morning."
Khawaja was a notable absentee when Cricket Australia announced its list of centrally contracted players last month.
The 33-year-old batsman has not played for his country since the drawn Ashes series in England last year and Marnus Labuschagne has looked very much at home at number three.
Former Australia captain Ponting thinks we may have seen the last of Khawaja in the longest format, despite the left-hander saying he believes he is among the top six batsmen in the country.
Ponting told ABC Grandstand: "I honestly think now he's going to find it difficult [to regain his place] and I feel for him.
"I love Usman Khawaja, I got really close to him over the last 10 years since he made his debut and I talk to him quite regularly.
"I've always felt he's a very good player and we probably never saw the absolute best of him at international cricket.
"We saw glimpses of it, and dribs and drabs, but not the consistently good player I thought he could have been for Australia."
He used the example of West Indies players who tend to choose franchise cricket over international duty for financial reasons.
"That question has a different answer in different countries," Ponting said in an event organised by the ICC ahead of the World Test Championship final between India and Australia at the Oval from June 7.
"It has becoming increasingly difficult to groom the youngsters in the Caribbean, for instance, who want to chase the dream of playing Test cricket,” Ponting added when asked about youngsters wanting to play the five-day game in an era of T20 leagues.
“Their payment system in the Caribbean compared to some of the franchise leagues, it doesn't match up and Sri Lanka will be the same and Bangladesh will be the same."
The legendary batsman said talks are on within the ICC to address the issue.
"It is not the case in India, England and Australia. You are paid well to play Test cricket for your country and most aspire to play the Test match game. There is a role to play for the ICC here. Make the payments bit more even across international Test cricket to attract players from these different countries who want to play for their country," he said.
"It is something that has been spoken about at a very high level at the ICC to help that but in India the feeling I get is that most of these youngsters aspire to wear the baggy blue cap and the same in in Australia," he added.
The news of Langer's exit as Australia coach was confirmed by his management team DSEG and followed a lengthy meeting with CA late on Friday.
Ponting is a former a team-mate and long-time friend of Langer, and the Australia great criticised the way both he and former captain Tim Paine – who resigned just three weeks out from the Ashes amid the emergence of an investigation four years ago over explicit messages sent to a female co-worker -– have been treated by CA.
Speaking to ABC Radio, Ponting said: ""It is a really sad day as far as Australian cricket is concerned and if you look back it has been a really poor six months on the whole in the way that Cricket Australia has handled some of the better people in the Australian cricket - Justin Langer and Tim Paine - and I think it's been almost embarrassing the way they have handled those two cases.
"He mustn't have had the full backing of the board. Me knowing Justin the way that I do, he was very keen to continue in the role, as he should have been after what's been the best coaching period of his international career having just won the T20 World Cup and then the 4-0 result in the Ashes.
"It seems like a very strange time for a coach to be departing. Reading the tea leaves it sounds like a few - and as he [Langer] says to me a small group in the playing group and a couple of other staff around the team - haven't entirely loved the way he has gone about it.
"That's been enough to force a man who has put his life and heart and soul into Australian cricket and done a sensational job at turning around the culture and the way the Australian team has been looked at in the last few years to push him out of the job."
Only John Buchanan has a better winning record among Australia coaches than Langer since 1985 when they began employing full-time head coaches.
Langer oversaw an Ashes drubbing of England in his final Test series, which followed immediately from T20 World Cup glory in the United Arab Emirates.
However, the latter triumph is said to have stemmed from a player-driven environment with Langer having agreed to take a more hands-off approach after receiving criticism following a home defeat to India in the 2020-21 Test series and subsequent white-ball losses to West Indies and Bangladesh.
Langer's intensity away from the pitch has been an apparent point of contention among some of the playing squad.
Ponting was asked whether Test skipper Pat Cummins was part of the dissenters and if he found that disappointing, to which he replied: "Justin is a great mate of mine and I know how passionate he is about the Australian coaching job.
"He wanted to continue on and be the best coach and have the best cricket team in the world.
"I think Pat also has been put in a difficult situation as captain, if it's not just him and it is other players coming to him and letting him know that maybe they think Justin is not the right man then that puts Pat in a difficult position as well.
"If he had got on the front foot and endorsed Justin they would not have been in a position to move him on.
"I am close to Justin, we are like brothers but I have not got too heavily involved in this, as much as giving him a pat on the back and put an arm around him here and there, there was no way I could change the way this was heading.
"What's happened today I've felt was coming for quite a while, even looking back before the T20 World Cup there was a lot of speculation there."
Warner plundered his way to 200 from 255 deliveries in the Boxing Day Test, which was his 100th appearance for his country in the format, as Australia dismantled South Africa by an innings and 182 runs.
That knock came at the end of a difficult 2022 for the opening batter, who had scored only two half-centuries in his previous 19 innings.
The 36-year-old was included in Australia's squad for their tour of India, but managed just 26 runs in three visits to the crease before suffering concussion and subsequently withdrawing.
Former Australia captain Ponting thinks the perfect opportunity for Warner to bow out was at the end of the South Africa series, with his home ground in Sydney hosting the final match.
Ponting told the ICC Review podcast: "Look, I was on radio a couple of days ago, back here in Australia, and I thought the absolute best time for Davey to retire, if he was thinking about it at all, was after the Sydney Test match here in Australia.
"He'd just played his 100th Test in Melbourne, and obviously got 200 in the first innings down there. And to bow out in front of his home crowd is obviously the way that every player would like to finish their careers.
"Who knows now that opportunity might not come around again for Davey, you know. That's nearly another 12 months away."
Australia will feature in this year's ICC Test Championship final at The Oval, and Ponting thinks Warner will play in that match if he is fit.
Indeed, Ponting says it could well act as an audition for the Ashes, which start at Edgbaston on June 16.
"They're probably going to have similar things to think about when they get to the UK because David's record in the UK is not as strong as it is in some other places around the world," said Ponting.
"I think his career deserves to finish the way he wants it to.
"Sort of not to be dropped or tapped on the shoulder in the middle of an overseas tour and have his career end in that way. That's why I just hope he can find it within himself to score a lot of runs between now and next summer."
Warne, widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time, died at the age of 52 on Friday.
His passing has left the world of cricket, and sport in general, stunned.
Masses of tributes have been paid to the former leg-spinner, who took 708 Test wickets for his country, the second-highest total of any bowler.
Ponting, who played alongside Warne for Australia between 1995 and 2007, and was Test captain for three of those years from 2004, has joined those hailing one of the sport's greats.
"Hard to put this into words. I first met him when I was 15 at the Academy. He gave me my nickname [Punter]," Ponting posted on his official Twitter account.
"We were teammates for more than a decade, riding all the highs and lows together.
"Through it all he was someone you could always count on, someone who loved his family, someone who would be there for you when you needed him and always put his mates first.
"The greatest bowler I ever played with or against. RIP King. My thoughts are with Keith, Bridgette, Jason, Brooke, Jackson and Summer."
Another of Warne's former Australia team-mates, Matthew Hayden, tweeted: "RIP Warnie. God only made one model of you my friend."
Justin Langer also played alongside Warne, and Fox Sports reported the ex-Australia coach as having said: "[Warne was] intensely loyal to his mates, controversial — he said it as he saw it. Incredibly generous, and, you know, he was a very kind and generous person but intensely loyal.
"Recently, the way he stood up for me in the last few months, I mean, that was Shane Warne, he looked after his mates.
"I've said this a thousand times… the best thing I did in cricket was play with Shane Warne."
Current Australia one-day captain Aaron Finch tweeted: "[Heartbroken] and shocked… absolutely shattered that we have lost one of the great sportsman and friends! The impact you had runs a lot deeper than cricket. You will be forever missed King!"
Smith – who also won the highest individual prize in Australian men's cricket in 2015, 2018 and 2021 – collected 171 votes from players, umpires and media for the 2023 award, comfortably clear of second-placed Travis Head with 144 votes.
Smith made 1,524 runs across all three formats during the voting period – the most by any Australia player, while only Marnus Labuschagne matched his tally of four centuries.
With the criteria for the award being weighted towards those who fare well in the longer formats, Smith's contribution to Australia winning eight of their 10 red-ball matches to rise to the top of the Test rankings went some way to putting him top of the pile.
While Ponting took the prize in 2004, 2006, 2007 and 2009, fellow four-time recipient Clarke triumphed in 2005, 2009, 2012 and 2013.
Meanwhile, David Warner won Cricket Australia's ODI Player of the Year award after finishing third in the voting for the Allan Border Medal, while Marcus Stoinis claimed the equivalent T20I prize.
The men's Test Player of the Year award – named after Shane Warne for the first time following his death last March – was won by Usman Khawaja after he scored 1,020 runs at 78.46 throughout the voting period.
In the women's game, Beth Mooney claimed the Belinda Clark medal for the second time, having featured in Australia's successful 50-over World Cup campaign in New Zealand last year.
Raza, who was born in Pakistan, delivered a man-of-the-match performance with a three-wicket haul and a run-out to turn the tide in his side's favour for a shock one-run win in Perth.
The 36-year-old has been in excellent form this year, catching the eye of Ponting, who drew comparison to his former Australia team-mates Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne.
Speaking after Zimbabwe's dramatic victory on Thursday, Raza - who recorded figures of 3-25 - admitted the video clip, shown to him before the game, provided a little extra motivation to help his side record a famous upset.
"I know there was a small clip that was sent to me this morning, and it was Ricky Ponting having a small word," he stated. "I was excited. I was nervous.
"I was thrilled about today. Motivation was always there, but if I needed that little push, I thought that clip did a wonder this morning. So thank you very much to Ricky as well."
Pakistan captain Babar Azam, meanwhile, professed his frustration at his side's performance, but vowed they would deliver a response in their next Super 12 match against Netherlands.
"We were not up to the mark in the batting," he acknowledged. "We had a bad first six overs. Later on we finished well. We'll sit together and learn from our mistakes and come back hard next match."
Pakistan remain without a point after two defeats in Group 2 of the Super 12, while Zimbabwe have three points following their washout draw against South Africa.
The opener was dismissed for a first-ball duck on day one of the first Test in Brisbane on Saturday, amid a two-year spell where he has failed to post a century.
With tours to India and England coming up in 2023 – where Warner has posted historically below-par averages of 24.25 and 26.04 – questions over his future continue to swirl, particularly after he recently withdrew a review of his lifetime leadership ban.
The final match of the three-Test series with South Africa comes at the batsman's home venue of the Sydney Cricket Ground, and ex-captain Ponting has now speculated whether he will call time in the aftermath, before he is pushed out.
"I think what he should be doing is being as realistic and looking to the future as he can," he told Channel 7. "He deserves the chance to finish the way he wants to finish.
"I would hate to see him get to an Indian tour or at the start of the Ashes tour and then get the tap on the shoulder. That would be a disappointing way for his career to end.
"It might be after the [final] Test [of this series]. Let's wait and see."
Fellow Test veteran Nathan Lyon – who took 3-14 as Australia bowled the Proteas out for 152 before reaching 145-5 at the close on Saturday – says the batsman remains supported by the rest of his team-mates, regardless of his future.
"We all know the X-factor of a cricketer that David Warner is and the type of batter he is," he added.
"He's got 100 per cent support from the changing room and [that] should be the whole Australian public, to be honest with you. I'm expecting David to come out and do amazing things."
