Blogs What Is Next For Ponting??
August 24th, 2009 by prashantHere is a player who has it all….So it seems…Where Most Players long to get a shot at playing for the World Cup, He has won a couple as a Captain. He has been the # 1 Batsman in the both forms of the game for a number of years and have been threatening to post the most centuries and an extremely healthy average in Tests….His Team had held on the the #1 spot in ODIs and Tests for a number of years….And it looked as if no team can dislodge them…And Suddenly….
Instead of finishing his career on all of these High Notes, He is hoping that He can continue to play Tests Cricket for 4 more years so he can do what he has been unable to do in his last 2 campaigns (in 2005 & 2009,) that is to win the Ashes in England..His team is at #4 in Tests and #3 ODIs…He is way down in the Players ranking as well…
It is looking all dark and gloomy for this once all successful, all powerful Aussie Captain…
Where does he go from here? We will find out soon. Stay tuned.
September 2nd, 2009 at 7:43 am
For the Aussies, winning the Ashes is probably more important than winning the world cup. The same goes for the English. And Ponting has lost Ashes twice in England. It is like his FINAL FRONTIER. And he has not be successful in this endeavor.
The same was true for Steve Waugh. He won everywhere, but was never able to conquer India in India.
I guess that is the only blemish in his otherwise flawless captaincy stint. And we all know how desperate he is to straighten that out!
Knowing the Australian selectors, Ponting will have to raise the level of his game and his captaincy a lot higher to survive at the helm for the next 4 years!
September 2nd, 2009 at 7:48 am
Frankly, I would credit all of Ponting’s victories to his team rather than to his captaincy. He had an amazing team under him (which also included him as a batsman) for a long time. Now that most of his aces have left ( viz. Hayden, Gilchrist, Langer, Martyn, Warne, McGrath and Gillespie) the team as not remained as strong anymore. Which has resulted recent losses to teams like SA (at home!), India and England.
When you lose 7 of your match winners, it is impossible to stay at the top. This shows that his captaincy was nothing extra ordinary but mere average.
Another comparison can be made to the way Strauss won the Ashes with the limited resources that he had to his disposal. THAT was a better display of captaincy.