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Craig HillWill the real Ricky Ponting please stand up
October 1st 2006 23:51
It has been an interesting pre season tournament for Australia in Malaysia. Success in the tournament has masked some interesting questions that in an ideal scenario might have been answered by these otherwise lifeless fixtures against the West Indies and India. Not among the original questions posed at the pre tournament strategy table but certainly an issue worth discussing now is Ricky Ponting’s performance as captain. against
In a meaningless one day international tournament (see earlier post) with little at stake other than jostling for positions in the batting order Ponting made headlines. Instead of using press conferences to praise high performing players Ponting found himself apologising to his team mates and defending his own actions.
His attempt at bullying umpire Rauf after an erroneous wide call only served to disrupt the Australian momentum as they surged towards an impressive victory. Likewise his overeager discussions with Umpire Benson in the same innings that did not bring censure might have landed him in hot water on another day. Both instances should have been met with no more than a quizzical look and a shrug of the shoulders.
England are a rejuvenated side and under Flintoff and Fletcher each weakness in the Australian side will be targeted. Stephen Fleming, captain of the New Zealand side showed against South Africa’s Graham Smith in March 2004 just what can be achieved by exploiting a volatile captain.
Ponting has enough to contend with after being the first Australian captain to lose the Ashes in 20 years without leaving himself open to attack in much the same way as a fiery footballer can be taunted into giving away a yellow or even a red card. Australia has an aging top order, a middle order that is inexperienced and a bowling attack where the main spearheads are in their twilight years. In order to win back the Ashes Ponting will need to be in control of all other factors in his domain.
His batting record is easily among the best of his era and his captaincy record contains many highlights however in this series the real Ricky Ponting needs to stand up and extend his strengths to include the control of his temper and severe moderation of his liking of unnecessary confrontation.
David Hudson
- In an earlier post the Inzamam case was discussed at length. Common sense has prevailed with censure for his actions in not returning to the field and in the absence of evidence no penalty applied for ball tampering. Ball tampering will surely now be managed in the same way as the throwing law where the state of the ball is reported after and not during an innings and made the subject of evidence. This will avoid the circus that occurred after the now infamous Oval test.
In a meaningless one day international tournament (see earlier post) with little at stake other than jostling for positions in the batting order Ponting made headlines. Instead of using press conferences to praise high performing players Ponting found himself apologising to his team mates and defending his own actions.
His attempt at bullying umpire Rauf after an erroneous wide call only served to disrupt the Australian momentum as they surged towards an impressive victory. Likewise his overeager discussions with Umpire Benson in the same innings that did not bring censure might have landed him in hot water on another day. Both instances should have been met with no more than a quizzical look and a shrug of the shoulders.
England are a rejuvenated side and under Flintoff and Fletcher each weakness in the Australian side will be targeted. Stephen Fleming, captain of the New Zealand side showed against South Africa’s Graham Smith in March 2004 just what can be achieved by exploiting a volatile captain.
Ponting has enough to contend with after being the first Australian captain to lose the Ashes in 20 years without leaving himself open to attack in much the same way as a fiery footballer can be taunted into giving away a yellow or even a red card. Australia has an aging top order, a middle order that is inexperienced and a bowling attack where the main spearheads are in their twilight years. In order to win back the Ashes Ponting will need to be in control of all other factors in his domain.
His batting record is easily among the best of his era and his captaincy record contains many highlights however in this series the real Ricky Ponting needs to stand up and extend his strengths to include the control of his temper and severe moderation of his liking of unnecessary confrontation.
David Hudson
- In an earlier post the Inzamam case was discussed at length. Common sense has prevailed with censure for his actions in not returning to the field and in the absence of evidence no penalty applied for ball tampering. Ball tampering will surely now be managed in the same way as the throwing law where the state of the ball is reported after and not during an innings and made the subject of evidence. This will avoid the circus that occurred after the now infamous Oval test.
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