Sydney, Jan 4 : Commenting on Australia's cricketing woes after series' losses to India and South Africa, former New Zealand cricketer Craig McMillan has said that Ricky Ponting's captaincy is suffering from "the mediocrity around him."

Writing a column for the Sunday News, McMillan said: "Their captain Ricky Ponting is a great batsman and one of the best to ever play Test cricket. But when he was captaining the side with Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath in it, he was on autopilot."