For almost his entire tenure in the team, Ponting has experienced record breaking winning streaks, margins etc. that have no doubt led him to believe that this is just normal, and almost his right as a cricketer to go on experiencing regardless. The one thing his predecessors, Mark Taylor and Steve Waugh, never took for granted was winning. Both had way too much experience as part of the struggling Australian sides of the mid to late 80s. If there was something that defined Steve Waugh’s captaincy (not to mention his character) above all else, it was his unrelenting resilience, fired in no small part by his experiences as a young cricketer on the wrong end of scorecards against the West Indies, Pakistan and even England.

This was something that, until 2005, Ponting had rarely if ever experienced. He was brought up in a team of champion players, and played against oppositions whose decline coincided with Australia’s rise. Put Ponting into the cauldron against a Clive Lloyd led West Indies outfit circa 1980s and see how well he fares. Come to think of it, he may have already had a taste of that against India and South Africa of late. That’s not to say either of those sides compare with the West Indies at the height of their powers, but both represent well captained and well drilled teams oozing with talent. To my mind the measure of Ponting the captain began post Warne/McGrath/Langer etc. True, you couldn’t reasonably expect the team to continue winning unabated, but therein is one of the failings in Ponting’c psyche – he simply cannot come to terms with the concept of someone, individual or team, being better than him. If you want the surest sign of this, take a close look at Ponting whenever he’s dismissed. Almost without exception he gets this quizzical look of disbelief on his face, half the time looking at the pitch, the other half looking at the umpire – as if to say I can’t believe I got out – it must have been something the pitch did, or the umpire got it wrong! Surely, the mighty Ponting couldn’t have been out thought by a bowler, or displayed some infallibility in his batting technique! Sadly, Ponting applies this same methodology of thought to his captaincy. Until such time as he finally wakes up to the fact that he’s no longer captaining a team of invincibles, and is not invincible himself, Australia’s team will continue to wallow in the mire. Oh, how I long for the days of Border being at the helm – the best Australian Captain of the modern era.

Haddin should be tried as opener, partnered by Simon Katich meaning he can attack the bowling in the first fiften overs while Katich plays the ancor role. Ponting depite his captaincy flaw should keep the C next to his name and come in at three, followed by Clarke and Mike Hussey. The next best Batsman in the country at the minute i believe is Phil Hughs, he wont forget how to bat just becasue he comes in at six sp pick him and give us some flexibility if Haddin isn’t producing. James Hopes has improved his bowling and his Handy at seven untill or if Shane Watson and Symonds get their act togther. Mitch Johnson, Braken (who surley must get a test call up) and Shaun tait make up my pace trio with Bryce McGain getting the spinner spot quite simply becasue no one else deserves it. hauritz is way off the mark but Kreija may improve and challenge.

Dave Warner has showed glimpses but must wait in the wings until a deserved chance arrives. Cameron White god bless his talents isn’t good enough in either form of the game and should enjoy the twenty twenty.

the test team should be pretty similar, swapping a tait who hasn’t proven he is up to five days battles with peter Siddle. Mind you expect to see Siddle sent home from South Africa when is foot flares up.

And lets not play Andrew Mcdonald, lets go for a batsman instead, Marcus North maybe to proved an off spin option

Enough said

The team seems to lack a strong leadership group.

Having players like hodge, katich, and hughes in the starting line up at the start of the summer might have bought better performances, and less pressure on the newcomers and timid bowling lineup we have.

Why oh why are the 3 most in form batsmen not playing? hodge is amazing!!

The bloke has about as much leadership presence as a choir boy and, going by his recent tattoo with his ladies initials being the focus, has the maturity to match.

Id have to say now i think his time as captain has come to an end.Australia need a new direction and also a new attitude.Michale Clarke to me is a classy guy,he always appears humble yet you know he has that competitive edge great Australian players have.He talks well and seems to take a loss on the chin,hes a guy i think who wont get this bitter chip on his shoulder when things go wrong which Ponting seems to have developed.

Let Clarke build his own team with a strong minded coach in a Steve Rixon type mold,a coach whos great with young players.Tell Ponting hes welcome to play on as a batsman if he chooses.Never pick Andrew Symonds again,hes the type of guy that will only cause problems in a team finding a new attitude to winning which Clarke could provide,basically an enjoyment to cricket rather than this sour aggro attitude which seems to surface around Symonds and Ponting.

Australia has the talent it just seems at the moment its being messed up by bad selections based on personality and the running of the team,in other words Pontings influence as captain.

Sheek, one thing that annoys me as regards the standard of Shield cricket is that it’s the norm now for blokes like Hayden to retire from the national side, and simultaneously retire from all other cricket (IPL or lucrative county contracts excepted of course). No question of going back to state or even club cricket for a year or two to give blokes at the next level down the benefit of their experience or a yardstick to measure themselves against. While I’m a long way from a fan of Justin Langer as a commentator (still too close to his mates to be prepared to say anything but the uncritical for mine) he at least did keep playing at the next level down. I know there is the counter view that old hands hanging on for another season clog up the pathways for young blokes. Maybe so, but equally it has to be better for blokes coming through to play against better players and get a proper understanding of where they are.

Cricket is trying to be all things to all men (& women) which we know is impossible, not to mention impractical. To have each branch of those games, you also have to give players suficient opportunity & time to become proficient at each of those forms.

Australian test cricket & first-class cricket (Sheffield Shield) are suffering because the top 15 players are almost never seen in the Sheffield Shield. Consequently, the up & coming players are denied the opportunity to be exposed to & learn from the old hands.

As a result, the standard of the Sheffield Shield perhaps isn’t as strong as it should be, & the test team suffers as a result. The one-dayers & T20 also take players out of the first-class setup.

Cricket might also have to decide if making bucket loads of money is all that matters, even to the eventual detriment of test & first-class cricket. Maybe in 20 years time, a player’s skill in Twenty20 will be the be all to end all.

I like reading Thommo’s interview in the logal rag (Sunday Mail) where he gets stuck into the Aus cricketers, and has the guts and honesty to say some home truths.

It isn’t fine to lose 5 in a row, we can’t “keep going as we are, I am sure it will turn around”. “All they need is belief” What a load of codswallop.

Something has to be done, or there goe’s the ashes…although I would suggest it is too late to recitfy now.

The time for CA to really support the players was last summer when the Indian intimidtion and threats were in full swing – lest we forget the chartered plane and the on/off bus trips! But they meekly went along with this disgraceful intimidation and distortion and hung Symonds out to dry. A big reason why we are floundering about this summer.

While on this subject, what’s the coach got to say about the latest horror show?

Deep down I felt that post Warne,McGrath, Gilchrist this could possibly happen – to be frank, we were embarassing in the South African ODIs, the Proteas rested some of their key players for the last game and still cleaned us up without any problems.

I think NZ will be fairly disappointed with their batting effort, and pleased with how they went in the field. The win is very welcome, but they’ll feel they should have to bat better to avoid getting slaughtered in the remaining games.

Why is there no heat on the coach? He was reappointed for the next 2 years when all wasn’t looking good.

Ponting has to return to where he is best suited as Australia’s #1 batsman and a smarter tactician and tougher person brought in as captain. This ship is going down with all hands if strong action isnt taken NOW but who can make the hard decisions?

This has all the hallmarks of a bunch of guys who have been on the gravy train too long and dont know their own history. They should have watched the Allan Border documentary that was reshown on ABC a week or so ago. This would have shown them what an loose bunch of leaders can do to Australian cricket and what herculean tasks are necessary to resurrect it once it slips.

Without the inclusion of your best players like hodge, hughes, katich, the boys club of ponting will continue to fail. Although m.hussey is a great cricketer, right now a break away from the team couldnt hurt. The best players of the last decade have all had sudden drops , exclusions from the team, only to come back stronger (m.waugh, hayden, ponting etc)

Pontings strategic failings also have to be noted. He has once again been out-captained. D.Vetorri has used a pretty meager bowling attack to outplay and bowl out australia with clever tactics and field placings.

A big shake up is needed otherwise SA will defend home turf and anothe series loss is around the corner…

Perhaps the current CA management should fall on their swords so that the former (circa 84/85) board and selectors could be reinstated. At least that group knew how to build a strong team from the bottom up. We’re a lot stronger now, but we still have lots of work to do. And self congratulatory back slappers won’t get the job done.

Ponting is an employee of CA and they should treat him as such. It’s a privilege to play for Australia (although the salary makes the hardship somewhat easier), and the bottom line is that you also have to perform.

So far all of CA from the top down have had a very bad year. This group will fail to leave the game in Australia stronger than it was when they started.

The thing that irks me is that people in the know are still saying “no need to panic”. Well excuse me if I get the lifeboats out on the titanic a little early, but I would have thought that losing in India (no, wait, not losing in India… the way we lost in India) would have/should have had alarm bells ringing for the future summer series.

I tuned in yesterday when we were 3 for 26 or some ungoldly low number. I tuned out then knowing we had lost. I was amazed at how close it was when I turned on the news this morning.

Hard decisions need to be made, and I think our selectors have forgotten how.

Ponting’s captaincy has struggled since the departure of these champions. Ponting is clearly not a good tactician, he often fails to see or seize opportunities (Nagpur, Perth and Melbourne) with the situation being exacerbated by the ineffectual contributions of Jack Clarke, Hillditch and Nielsen. Australian cricket is presently a rudderless boat drifting from one loss to the next.

No this is a side in decline. I like the fact that they have kept Warner, Marsh ect. who are all young players. More senior players need to go, and bring in some up and coming talent.

The sundries was a discrace. NZ kept it to 2, while the aussies racked it up to 20odd. And all the stop start nature for every ball, whats going on with that? These are profressional cricketers. If they can’t put the ball where they know it needs to go, then they shouldn’t be playing. Stick to the KISS principle Ricky, otherwise you’ll have more embarrising days out.

Credit needs to go to NZ though. They bowled, fielded and played the game brilliantly. Even bringing up the players when it wasn’t a Power Play was more of a mental move. Veettori out foxed them, but with common sense.