The great challenge awaiting Ricky Ponting in life after the legends is that he must become an amateur psychologist to do his job well.
Much of Ponting's two-year term as Test captain has been about juggling the big egos of older men around him.
It was never easy for Ponting to captain a side with six players older than he was, many of whom started their Test careers when he was a teenager.
With Damien Martyn, Justin Langer, Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne gone he will head to the other end of the spectrum and become something of a kindergarten cop.
It will be his job to convince Cullen Bailey and Cam White they don't have to prove they are Warne to bowl well. It will be his job to explain to Ben Hilfenhaus and Mitchell Johnson that they are born to play Test cricket even if they don't take 500-plus Test wickets like the gangly menace they replaced.
And also to convince Michael Clarke he must think of himself not as his nickname Pup but as a general and team leader.
By nature, Ponting is not a mollycoddler but he has learned from the way Steve Waugh pumped up Matthew Hayden and Langer as Test players there are huge benefits in making fringe players believe in themselves.
Waugh learned the greatest killer of Test careers is not lack of ability but lack of self-esteem. Ponting the captain will change in the way that Bradman changed from the slightly uncertain leader of 1938 -- before the war when he had to handle several difficult older men -- to the supreme post-war ruler of 1948 who was respected as an senior statesman.
There's an old saying in cricket -- that a captain is only as good as his bowling attack.
Name a captain with a top-notch reputation and you'll see a man with a decent bowling arsenal. Clive Lloyd had a bus full of West Indian quicks to choose from. Ian Chappell had Dennis Lillee and Jeff Thomson. Mark Taylor, Steve Waugh and Ricky Ponting had McGrath and Warne.
Very few captains have managed to salvage their reputations without a crack attack.
Which is why Ponting and Australia's selectors must get their bowling attack right.
Batting is much less of a problem. Ponting can be pencilled in for a 50-plus average, Hayden and Adam Gilchrist will have nice spurts and Michael Clarke and Mike Hussey look the goods.
But the bowlers are a greater worry.
Stuart Clark and Brett Lee are peaking at the moment but greater challenges await abroad.
It is understood the selectors plan is to choose leg-spinner Stuart MacGill for challenging home series against Sri Lanka and India next year.
If the incomparable Warne could not crack India it will surprise if MacGill can.
But the selectors are likely to conclude they would rather see his confidence dented than a young project player.
And what of the slips cordon?
It is expected that Ponting will take over the role of first slip in place of Warne and Langer's likely replacement, Phil Jaques, will head to second with Hayden third.
- ROBERT CRADDOCK