Is it time for Ponting to hang up his cap?
Posted by Sport.co.uk on: 24 March 2011 - 22:42
Author: Ben Duggan
With the Australian World Cup dream now in tatters, it maybe that the curtain is going to be brought down on its captain Ricky ‘Punter’ Ponting
The Australian press and public seemingly want him to step-down as the skipper, but the stubborn Tasmanian wants to battle on and lead his country as it tries to reinvent itself as a major force in the cricketing world.
He claims he is the most experienced man in the camp to lead a decisively average and inexperienced dressing room, but is his voice now wearing thin and has his sell-by date now passed?
Losing to India in this World Cup holds no shame, but it’s not likely to appease a demanding cricketing media and Ponting’s hope of hanging on to the captaincy surely now hangs by a thread despite his impressive 104 knock against the joint host nation.
An easy job made hard
If you know you’re cricket, you know that Ponting has been a very fine contributor to the game and is rightly regarded as one of the modern day greats. Some may argue, and perhaps not without merit, that he was allowed to flourish easily in what was probably the finest team of all time.
Opening partnership a problem? Bring on Warnie to bowl. Leaking runs? Bring on Glenn McGrath, he’ll stem the flow and nick one out. Opening order had a bad day? No matter, Gilchrist will save the day. As a number three batsman, your job is made a lot easier if your opening batsmen have put on 200-or-so. As captain, you’re job is reduced to cheerleader when you have two of the games finest bowlers and a belligerent batting line-up to call upon.
Since the ‘legends’ team slowly gave way to creaking limbs and post-retirement commentary offers, Punter has been given the opportunity to deal with players that find themselves light years away from their world-class predecessors in terms of ability. It’s fair to say that his new crop hasn’t exactly produced the results. Before the Ashes, Australia had also lost to South Africa and India and now find themselves halfway down the test match rankings and its grip on the World Cup gone.
Loss of batting form
Despite his claims, one thing Ponting can’t argue with, is his form with the bat and its downward trajectory. Gone it seems are the days of Ponting dominating with his aggressive and ruthless batting style that has seen his claim 69 international centuries.
It could be argued that we haven’t seen a typical Ponting innings since Old Trafford in the 2005 Ashes series, while there have been centuries since, there hasn’t been the one of game changing magnitude. During the recent Ashes series at times it appeared England were treating Ponting as something of a weak link.
Would relinquishing the captain’s role help Ponting’s batting? Any batsman worth their ilk will tell you that the mind has to be uncluttered when batting, but it’s hard to imagine Punter taking orders from anyone else or even slipping down the order from his much-loved number three spot.
Ponting’s successor
There are not many Australian captains that would survive the alarming stat of just one Ashes series win in four attempts (albeit the now forgotten 2006-2007 5-0 whitewash series) but Ponting has. Yet this may say more about the others around him than the qualities of the man himself. Quite simply, Australia don’t seem to have a clue who to select as their next leader.
The heir apparent that was Michael Clarke has fallen so far from grace that his place in the side is now under threat. Mike Hussey would be a short-term solution that would appear to suit neither the individual nor the team. Marcus North was seen as a potential captain, but his form has collapsed and he now finds himself with a long road back into the side.
Bizarrely, perhaps the best choice maybe one that is seen an unpopular Down Under, Shane Watson. Quite what Watson has done to upset the Australian public is something of a mystery, as the 29 year-old Queenslander is one of the few performers in the side in recent years and appears to have a useful cricket brain.
What next?
In the past Ponting has spoken about his desire to return to the County Championship in England. In 2004 he played for Somerset and averaged 99 in four first class innings. It’s difficult to see where he may fit in at Taunton now, but it should not be ruled out at another county. There are many sides that would benefit from the experience of such a seasoned campaigner and there’s little doubt that Ponting would flourish again against the county bowling circuit.
Given his international retirement from Twenty20 game, it seems unlikely that Ponting would have much joy in the cash-rich IPL and given the increasing calibre of the English format, it’s unlikely Ponting will land himself a gig in a ‘Freelance Freddie’ type role.
With the World Cup bid over, Ponting has now been denied the send-off his talent deserved. Quite whether he will get the chance to rectify that remains to be seen.