Sunday, May 25, 2008

Ponting's Turn?

In one of our conversations, Miss Field asked me if I thought Ricky Ponting will regain his form during the tests against the West Indies.

My response was that I thought Ponting would get a big 100 in one of the tests but apart from that he will get scratchy 20s and 30s.

Well Ponting has already got that big 100 and he's also followed it up with a 5. No more big scores for the Aussie skipper then?

It was quite an innings by Ponting. Throughout day 1 he had scored more than half of Australia's total and he looked set to come back on the 2nd morning before Chanderpaul pulled of a stunning catch.

After the innings, Ponting said that he was glad to be in whites. He talked about how he was scratchy in the ODIs and the IPL and that it felt good to be back in the test fold.

So how long before Ponting is replaced as the ODI captain?

It happened to Mark Taylor. It happened to Steve Waugh.

It is Ponting's turn now?

Make your pitch on this post...



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6 Pitched:

  1. Jrod said...
     

    The difference here is that Ponting is a natural one day player.

    Taylor never was.

    And once Steve Waugh couldn't bowl i'd argue he wasn't much of a one day cricketer either.

    Ponting will play one day cricket until he isn't good enough to do so.

  2. Q said...
     

    Agree with that difference Uncle J. Apart from being natural ODI player, he even is a natural T20 one. Remember that 98? It was the highest T20I score before Gayle's 100.

    However, this is the 1st time I heard Ponting say that he was glad to be back playing test cricket.

    I saw a hint of him saying he wasn't enjoying ODI cricket. Well he averaged 10-20 i think in the VB series plus Aus lost so definitely he didn't enjoy it.

  3. Anonymous said...
     

    True, Ponting has been scratchy for some time now. Though I wonder if the 'nice to be in whites' has more to do with the craziness that the T20 experience has been than anything else. But honestly, of late, he hasn't been the force he used to be at #3.

    Despite that, I don't see him losing ODI captaincy yet. Clarke's umimpressive run in the summer may lead to some delay on that front.

  4. Nigel Kersten said...
     

    Honestly, who would you replace Ponting with as an ODI batsman, let alone as a captain?

    The public anointing of Clarke annoys me. I don't think he's ever going to be a great batsman, and is going to be one of those captains whose place is regularly questioned due to patchy runs of form with the bat.

    I believe that Ponting was really quite deeply hurt during the events of the Indian tour. He's not exactly someone who wears his heart on his sleeve, and he's not the most articulate of cricketers, but the fact that Australians were turning against the team really cut him to the quick I think, and his already patchy run of form suffered.

  5. Q said...
     

    Welcome to Well Pitched Nigel.

    Thats probably true. There were many reports indicating that Ponting was distracted with a lot of things. Not only the fact that Aussies were turning against the team but the whole Bhajji issue, the IPL / contracts issue with CA, the Pakistan tour, the media, etc. There were a lot of distractions.

    Ponting in ODIs is probably irreplaceable currenly but there are people like Shaun Marsh, Pomersbach, David Hussey knocking on the doors. They would come in sooner rather than later.

    I believe all 3 are part of the ODI squad to the Windies.

    As for the captaincy, I guess its only Clarke. CA seem to be quite intrested in him.

  6. Miss Field said...
     

    I agree Nigel, in hindsight I think you're spot on.

    I wouldn't mind seeing Brett Lee skipper a match, just to see how it would pan out.

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