The best since Bradman. It is a grandiose tag worn through the years by the likes of Neil Harvey, Greg Chappell and Allan Border as each man surged to deeds which made them stand-outs in their own generation.
The latest always seems the greatest but there seems little doubt Steve Waugh's back-page prediction for Ricky Ponting will come true. In fact he may be there already.
And on the world stage he would not be much further down the list.
Statistics are only part of what makes a great player but if Ponting (59.13) continues on his current rampage he will soon pass South Africa's Graeme Pollock (60.97) as the owner of the second best batting average in Test history among the game's elite players.
It's generally accepted anyone who averages over 40 is a good Test batsman and 50-plus is in the realm of the greats.
But Ponting's record is becoming so good he has moved past a group of players who average just over 50 – including Border, Waugh and Greg Chappell – and is cruising through the next echelon featuring Wally Hammond, Everton Weekes and George Headley whose averages are generally considered untouchable.
Ponting took 11 balls to get off the mark yesterday but his footwork looked so crisp that he had only been at the crease for 15 minutes when sharp-eyed commentator Kerry O'Keeffe said: "He looks to me as if he has booked in to stumps."
He was so determined to get behind the ball early that in one defensive shot his entire body finished outside off-stump.
Ponting leaves nothing to chance in preparing for his batting.
When he finds a bat he likes he has been known to send them to India so that replacements can be made to exact specifications of his favourite wand.
He prefers blades made from the softest willow because he believes the softer the willow the more power he gets in his shots. And his power simply overwhelmed England yesterday.
He wasted barely a calorie of effort on sweet on-driven fours off Ian Bell and Matthew Hoggard which sped off his bat as if it was made of rubber.
His shot of the day was an audacious backfoot cover drive off Steve Harmison where the ball started to climb on him but he just went up with it and powered it to the fence with immaculate timing.
Ponting deserves his moments in the sun.
The Ashes loss could have destroyed him as a captain. Instead it has made him a stronger man and a better player.
He ignored calls from former players like Dennis Lillee to stand down and he had some agonising moments when long-time teammates such as Michael Clarke, Matthew Hayden and Damien Martyn were axed from either the Test or one-day sides. But he never shied away from tough decisions.
He knew Australia had to turn their training regime upside down and he swiftly sanctioned that.
He is growing as a leader and, like Bradman before him, he may find it much easier to be captain when a generation of players older than himself retire and he is left to lead a bunch of younger men who will have been inspired by his deeds.
- ROBERT CRADDOCK