Punter can bat well but he just can’t captain
Roar Guru
By Rickety Knees, 11 Jul 2009 Rickety Knees is a Roar Guru
- Tagged:
- Australian Cricket, Cricket, english cricket, Ricky Ponting, The Ashes
Australia's captain Ricky Ponting gestures - AP Photo/Gautam Singh
It’s the morning of the second day of the first Test of the 2009 Ashes. We have the Poms 7 for, with the opportunity to get them all out for less than 400.
Punter decides (as he always does) that his one day cricket strategy is the best way to mop up the tail. Bowl your quicks, set a tight field, and wait for the batsmen to get themselves out.
The Poms tail wags and all of a sudden the score is 435. Ouch!
Modern cricketers live and breath one day cricket, with quicks, medium pacers and spinners bowling darts. How many lower order batsmen would have faced a left-arm over-the-wrist spinner who bowls with a tantalising loop and can spin the ball in both directions?
For me, Punter is a great batsman but a very robotic and predictable skipper.He does not keep the batsman guessing. He needs to do better.
Previous Ashes Tests have been won and lost by the odd run. He needs to show a lot more imagination with his captaincy.
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Ben Somerford said | July 11th 2009 @ 3:11am | Report comment
brief but concise. i’m down with that.
Nird99 said | July 11th 2009 @ 8:34am | Report comment
I agree completely. I was watching the first session yesterday when the English tail wagged and remeber thinking that it was mechanical and that he and the team were going through the motions. that was until be brought nathan on as his game breaker. Yes he did eventually get the wicket but it was a wicket bought at a great cost of runs.
What captain could seriously see nathan hauritz as a game breaker or could think that he is the best chance in the team of snaring the wicket. When I looked at the field set for nathan, I thought that the only way he was going to get a wicket was by one of the english batsmen to sky a reckless catch to the outfield… I was close.
It seems that the Australians have plans for the batsman but not the bowlers. Punters captaincy skills have been shown lacking when he lost Warne and Mcgrath and didnt have them to always fall back upon.
LeftArmSpinner said | July 11th 2009 @ 8:40am | Report comment
I agree with you except that Hauritz snared three wickets. The skipper had something to do with this!!! But, overall, I am critical of Ponting and Clarke as leaders of men and as the public image of the code, and secondly the decisions made on the field.
Rickety Knees said | July 11th 2009 @ 8:55am | Report comment
Leftie – the point I am making is that when under the pump Ponting goes for containment rather than attack. IMO Katich, who has a 5 for in test cricket, is an amazingly under utilised resource. Good batsman struggle with his confounding googlies, tail enders have no idea. Ponting started to use Katich with good effect in South Africa – why he did not bowl in tandem with Haurtiz has me mystified. Keeping the batsman guessing is what it is all about and Katich provides that X factor.
cosmos forever said | July 11th 2009 @ 9:23am | Report comment
he is a massive ego who has been under attack (unheard of for a modern australian cricketer) for a couple of turbulent years and his reaction to that is to support his selections like Hauritz regardless of the situation.
JamesB said | July 11th 2009 @ 9:31am | Report comment
He’s clearly not one of the best captains in recent memory, but there isn’t really anyone else. Could this be the difference in the series?
Rickety Knees said | July 11th 2009 @ 10:27am | Report comment
Interesting point Cosmos – so I take it that you are suggesting that he bowls Hauritz at the expense of others so as to justify the selection of Hauritz in the first place. Which IMO was a most curious selection in the first place.
davido said | July 11th 2009 @ 11:26am | Report comment
What a load of rubbish. Just look at the stats. There is no captain in Australian history who can better his record.
Australians really need to stop this ‘tall poppy’ thing. It is not doing us any favours. You never hear this criticisms from overseas commentators of Ponting as a leader. They constantly praise his decisions.
Mattyg said | July 11th 2009 @ 12:08pm | Report comment
davido, I could have captained Australia to that record, he had the best bunch of players around. Look at how Australia went in India when Ponting hurt himself and Gili captained, he attacked the Indians and we won the series for the 1st time in ages.
Ponting has a different style to Waugh and Taylor who were both very attacking, while Ponting is very defensive so it is hard to get used to his decisions for the viewers. If you listen to Chappel, Taylor or Healy in the commentary they reguarly question Pontings field placings and decisions on who to bowl, those 3 know what they are talking about and I respect their views.
Ponting is our best batsman, Ponting has the best record of any Australian Captain, but can he improve his tactics and field placements? Yes.
Peter K said | July 11th 2009 @ 1:13pm | Report comment
I think Waugh now has a better win loss ratio.
Ponting has a Plan A to get out batsmen. If this does not work and especially if they attack the bowling he goes into a defensive containment type field. He does not have a Plan B to get them out.
Ponting is a terrific player but mediocre captain. A high win loss ratio does not mean you are a great captain it depends on the players you have and who you play.