SCOTTIE Guyett revealed he had taken inspiration for his comeback heroics from Australian cricket captain Ricky Ponting.

The Queenslander, a cricketing fanatic, answered Cherries’ defensive SOS when he made his first start for seven months in Saturday’s 3-0 victory at Bury.

Guyett turned in an assured display in the Gigg Lane rout after stepping in at short notice for Ryan Garry after he had failed a late fitness test on a dead leg.

It capped a great day for the Antipodean who also saw Australia take a stranglehold of the fourth Ashes Test at Headingley.

Guyett, who helped Cherries to victory in their League Two curtain-raiser, told the Daily Echo: “I took a bit of inspiration from watching Ricky Ponting on the television.

“I missed most of the cricket because we were travelling up but watched the highlights when we arrived. I saw Ponting come out to bat and he was getting booed.

“I’m a big cricket fan but an even bigger fan of Ricky Ponting. I think he’s a true champion and watching him bat (and score 78) was a real inspiration.”

Guyett, who has been troubled by a series of nagging injuries, added: “Ryan Garry is my room-mate so I knew soon after his fitness test that I would be playing.

“Although I did most of pre-season training, I couldn’t play any competitive games. It was disappointing in some ways but at least I did some of the running.”

Guyett helped Cherries weather an early storm before first-half goals from Brett Pitman and Anton Robinson saw them take command. Mark Molesley’s 50th-minute stunner finished off the Shakers.

“We had a game-plan and were really disciplined,” said Guyett. “We thought they would come at us in the first 30 minutes but, once we got on the ball and got the first goal, we controlled the rest of the game.

“As a defender, you pride yourself on clean sheets. But when the strikers are scoring goals at the other end, it gives you further impetus to throw yourself at everything because you want to keep that clean sheet. They were three quality goals. Two great individuals goals and a good team goal.”

Horrendous traffic snarl-ups on route to the north west on Friday resulted in a seven-and-a-half hour coach journey for Guyett and the rest of the Cherries squad.

He added: “It’s getting to the point where we are getting caught in traffic every time we travel on a Friday and it was an absolute nightmare. We were still in Oxford at three o’clock.

“There isn’t much you can do about. If it continues, maybe we will change but that’s up to Eddie and Jason. It was certainly frustrating sitting on a coach for seven-and-a-half hours.”