Ponting was not part of the playing XI and could easily have put his feet up, turned his back and read the newspaper. As the most senior player on the tour, he could have even stayed in the hotel and caught a tan. But, Ponting was present - not just in his whites and baggy green, but walked out to the middle, and in Sri Lanka, it's a hot, sticky, sweaty middle, with drinks, towels and words of advice.

He is no longer their leader and, in a previous Australian era, he would also no longer be their teammate, so the Australian team have little reason to be his followers. Still, they feel compelled to. It may be because he is the most experienced player in their squad, the only one to have played tests in Sri Lanka before, but it may also be because he has learnt to evolve past his own legendary days as leader and into another man's era.

Without much fuss, Ponting is becoming the darling of Australian cricket again, both with his demeanour off the field and his performance on it. While acting as the spine of the mental adjustments Australia have had to make, Ponting also ended the ODI series as the second-highest run-scorer, 46 runs behind Michael Clarke, a sign that the old leadership is as skilful as the new. In his quiet strength, Ponting is the perfect bridge between past and present and is gracefully entering the twilight years of his career as a gazelle would, with elegance and soft self-assurance.

Smith is more of a buffalo, thudding and thumping his way through the last stages of his captaincy, and is now at the precipice between stampeding into his senior years or softening around the seams. If he follows Ponting's example, he will pick the gentler route.

Already, Smith has shown signs of smoothness. At a recent media interaction session, he spoke candidly about his form and the need to improve if he still hopes to play limited-overs international cricket.

He was honest about experiencing a crash in confidence as runs dried up, about his notoriously ugly technique, which has served him so well, and about the contribution he still wants to make to the national side. He was careful to mention that he would give AB de Villiers enough room to develop his own style of leadership and would only offer assistance when asked, like Ponting has done with Clarke.

Much more significant than the substance of the words was the style. It was one of those rare occasions where Smith did not charge through an interview, he chatted. Hopefully, such situations will become more regular and Smith will be allowed to mellow. Eventually, we may even see Smith carrying the drinks onto the park for his teammates.