Damien Martyn may disagree. Some Australian fans would take exception. Certain former players may turn in their graves. But Ricky Ponting has uttered what many would believe to be heresy - that losing the Ashes was not a bad thing.
The comment came at yesterday's launch of the Australian captain's Ashes diary, in which he says the 2-1 result probably flattered his side. Meeting reporters, he spoke what many would regard as the unspeakable in looking back on the unthinkable: "I don't think it was a bad thing for the team or for Australian cricket, to tell the truth," he said.
Ponting might have chosen his words more carefully if given a second chance. And he explained the comment by describing it as the wake-up Australia needed.
"It was a learning curve for a lot of us," he said. "I certainly think and felt that I learnt a lot through the Ashes tour. I think a lot of the players learnt a lot about themselves as well. Since we've been back we've managed to turn things around quite drastically and dramatically. The way we've played over the last few weeks, we've changed things around quickly, so that's been very, very satisfying."
Still, despite those explanations, such a comment from an Australian captain did not sit well with some ex-players. Former leg spinner Terry Jenner, who spilt blood during the 1970-71 Ashes series, gave Ponting some benefit of the doubt, saying what he "really meant" was that the lessons learnt had meant the series loss was not all bad.
But others remained disappointed with the captain's tone. Former Ashes bowling hero Terry Alderman said the comment should be classed with Ponting's call before the fifth Test at The Oval that it would not be his fault if Australia lost the Ashes.
"I think you've got to be a bit more upset than that," Alderman said. "All I know is winning was everything to me. Second-best was no good. Our losses really hurt me. That 1981 series, when we should've won, I've never got over that, even though we won over there in 1989."
Alderman said Ponting's comment was not surprising as the captain was trying to put a "silver lining" on a series in which Australia had been afflicted by "bad preparation".
Former Test vice-captain Ian Healy concurred and said that, whatever meaning Ponting was attempting to convey, his words were insensitive to players such as Martyn, who has been dropped from the Test team, and Matthew Hayden, who was made exclusively a Test player after the series.
"I can see where Ricky's coming from, but try telling Matthew Hayden and Damien Martyn that - they didn't survive this 'good thing'," Healy said.
"What Ricky's saying seems to be an admission that they were complacent, were often not attending to detail, and that now they'll get back to those details. I'm not impressed with that. If an outsider or a commentator said it, they [the Australian team] would be up in arms. It's all a bit of an indictment of Australia's preparation."
But Jenner said he agreed with Ponting. "His choice of words was perhaps awkward," Jenner said. "But I think there's a lot of truth in what he said. You don't want to hear your captain say it, but Australia are playing better now."
- TREVOR MARSHALLSEA