Watson compares Smith to Ponting

Shane Watson has said Steven Smith's rich summer with the bat was reminiscent of Ricky Ponting at his best, and he said it was a privilege to have watched Smith reach such heights. Smith is the favourite to win the Allan Border Medal on Tuesday night, after a summer that brought him centuries in all four Tests against India, as well as three ODI tons in the past four months.

Smith captained Australia to the Border-Gavaskar Trophy triumph after Michael Clarke was injured in the first Test in Adelaide, but the leadership did not have an adverse effect on his batting. Not only did he scored centuries in all of his first three Tests in charge, he has also become the first player ever to make hundreds on both Test and ODI captaincy debut.

"It really has been a privilege to see the way he's been batting and playing and also holding himself as well," Watson said. "I've been very lucky through my career to be able to play with some of the great players that have played for Australia. Ricky Ponting is someone who I idolised and was able to see up close how he dominated world cricket for such a long period of time.

"To see Steve Smith and what he's doing in this point of time is very much along the lines of what Ricky Ponting was doing when he was dominating. It's like they're playing another game. No matter the quality of bowler or who is bowling, they never seem fazed. They're able to take on whoever is bowling and really is a privilege to be able to see someone who is at their absolute peak.

"I know Steve the way he is the way he works the way he holds himself, this is going to continue for a long period of time as well. I'm sure it will continue through the World Cup as well and he's going to be one of the crucial men in our batting order."

Smith was preferred as stand-in Test captain ahead of Brad Haddin for the final three Tests against India, although Haddin had been Clarke's vice-captain at the start of the series. Smith found himself leading a side whose members were mostly older than him, including Watson, who had captained Australia in a Test in 2013. Watson said Smith was a natural captain.

"He's an impressive leader, pretty chilled, pretty relaxed," Watson said. "Everyone knows what's expected from him as well, but he's also let his bat do the talking as well out there. He reads the game incredibly well for a young man. He's been born with this cricket intuition as well so in situations he knows where to go to whether it's with the bat but also as a leader in the field.

"Even up until he got given the captaincy, he was always someone Michael called on. For me I was lucky to have him in and around my IPL franchise as well, so somebody you know you can call on especially in pressure situations you know he's going to give you really good feedback, so he's really impressive."

Watson missed Australia's last two qualifying games of the one-day tri-series with a hamstring niggle but he said he was hoping to play in the final in Perth on Sunday, or failing that, in the World Cup warm-up games. Watson was speaking at the announcement of a campaign for the Motor-Neurone Disease Foundation, in which he will donate $200 for every four he hits in the World Cup, $300 for every six, and $300 for every wicket.

"Hopefully it'll be a good campaign for myself to help donate a significant amount of money to the foundation," Watson said. "It's something that's been burning inside of me that I want to help try and raise money and hope that people are able to join me with matching me or just donating some very valuable money as, well but also raising awareness for this very cruel disease as well so people can really start to understand how horrific MND is to the people who are unfortunately diagnosed."