Ricky Ponting Backs Kevin Pietersen's Claims of 'Bullying' Culture

"We saw them doing it, (James) Anderson was always the same, and Swann," Ponting told the Sydney Daily Telegraph on Wednesday.

"The pointing of fingers and you'd hear a few expletives if there was a misfield or a dropped catch.

"The guys who were doing it were the so-called leaders. That's where the captain has got to come in, not wait and let little things turn into big things. That's what it sounds like has happened in this England team."

[size=14px]ON HIS TEAM MATES MATT PRIOR, GRAEME SWANN, STUART BROAD — The dressing room slowly became the territory of those biggest mouths among the bowlers -- and a wicketkeeper. They ran an exclusive club. If you were outside that clique, you were fair game for mocking, ridicule, bullying. That's what those guys did. I’d spoken about the abuse on the field that Prior, Broad, Jimmy (Anderson) and Swann were giving the fielders. (Swann and Broad) argued that fielders should apologise to the bowlers if they’ve made a mistake. I just stood there and realised that it was the closest I’ve ever come to thinking I could willingly slap two guys on my own team. The way he (Prior) criticised people who'd made mistakes on the field to a playground or a workplace, this behaviour would be labelled as bullying. He does the managing upwards well. The schoolyard bully who is also teacher's pet.[/size]