Ponting will be remembered as a very poor captain
Roar Guru
By David Wiseman, 28 Aug 2009 David Wiseman is a Roar Guru
- Tagged:
- Billy Murdoch, Cricket, Ricky Ponting, The Ashes
Australia’s captain Ricky Ponting gestures - AP Photo/Gautam Singh
Billy Murdoch has never received so much publicity. Everyone is now fully aware of the fact that Ricky Ponting joins Murdoch as the only Australian captains to twice lose the Ashes in England. As a batsman Ponting is peerless, but how is history going to assess him as a leader?
Instead of damning him, the usual suspects have rushed to his defence. Interestingly, Ian Chappell not only backed Ponting, but took the opportunity to take a swipe at Steve Waugh.
The bottom line is that whoever was captain was going to struggle given that the ins to the side didn’t match the outs. The assembly line of Test cricketers broke down and the likes of Siddle, Hughes, Hauritz and North was never going to be adequate cover for McGrath, Hayden, Warne and Martyn.
But this can’t deny the fact that Ponting is a bland and unimaginative captain. His field placings are uninspired, especially with the game is in the balance.
I felt this during Ponting’s first game in Australia in charge. It was 2004 up at the Gabba against New Zealand. Jacob Oram was batting with the lower-order and approaching a century.
For some reason, Ponting felt it was appropriate to bring out the old Mike Brearley field-placing of nine men on the boundary. Unless a boundary is required from the final ball of the match for victory, I don’t think this field placing is ever justified.
I think it would have been better had either Adam Gilchrist or Shane Warne succeeded Steve Waugh as captain with Ponting the understudy. This way Ponting would have gained more of an insight into what it means to be a Test captain.
He would have a better understanding of how to rotate the bowlers and what fields to set them. He wouldn’t be so quick to retreat to defensive field positions that basically concede everything.
The farce of Nagpur never would have occurred, nor would he have allowed the fate of the Cardiff Test to rest in the hands of Marcus North.
Michael Clarke took three wickets in five balls against India – surely he would be a far superior option to North? What about the lack of a spinner at The Oval?
Simply indefensible and giving North 44 overs for the match compounds the error 1000 times.
In the beginning of Ponting’s captaincy, he had the luxury of simply throwing the ball to McGrath and Warne. Those days are long gone.
The lack in personnel is amplified by the deficiencies Ponting has with regard to his captaincy. That may not be the reason why Australia lost the Ashes, but it’s one of the reasons why they didn’t retain them.
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Matt0931 said | August 28th 2009 @ 4:31am | Report comment
I agree Ponting is a poor captain but I also think he was teh best option at the time. Gilchrist has made it quite clear that he found it too difficult to captain the side whilst he was already manning the stumps and opening the batting and warne was never given the job due to his little off-field texting indiscretions.
Warne would probably have been the best captain Australia had ever seen but alas it was never to be.
I don’t think you can just blame Ponting for the player selection, he is afterall also making these decisions with the coaches and the selectors. I think we should be asking the selectors exactly what happeend with the Clark and lack of oval spinner debacle as I have a feeling it was more due to personal feelings than just picking the best man for the job.
Michael C said | August 28th 2009 @ 6:19am | Report comment
gawd Ponting bashing is boring,
but, it generally seems to eminate from Sydney too,
and that’s generally no surprise, because the NSW media never rest until they get hold of the next NSW captain (Border was – technically).
A fraction of luck with weather and umpires and Ponting would’ve won 2 ashes series in England,
but, he whitewashed England here,
Alan Border lost the Ashes as home!!!
(which is an element of ‘bragging rights’ that Chris Broad retains that his son has yet to earn!!)
FIsher Price said | August 28th 2009 @ 1:56pm | Report comment
Punter lives in NSW…
Dave said | August 29th 2009 @ 3:36pm | Report comment
he doesnt play for NSW though
Mattay said | August 28th 2009 @ 8:25am | Report comment
Warne and Darren Lehmann were (probably still are) the greatest cricket thinkers Australia had(has). I can’t remember the timing of it all, but I’m pretty sure Lehmann played under Ponting. For some inexplicable reason, Lehmann wasn’t an automatic starter, despite his God given talent.
Ponting should have learned a lot from those two even while he was captain.
Whiteline said | August 28th 2009 @ 9:22am | Report comment
Michael c – I’m not from Sydney but perhaps the whole supposed NSW domination debate that pops up regularly has something to do with population mass?
For example in Sydney I believe there are 20 grade teams and in a place like Perth there are 16. Already you have a system which in theory will produced a better competition (again based on competition for spots) and therefore a better ouycome in regards player performance. By the way, the players selected from NSW seem to have been pretty good over the years.
Jumping to the reference to Ian Chappell by the author – well what do you expect from him really? He always lets his bias in regards to personalities affect his judgement.
Mr Mac said | August 28th 2009 @ 9:35am | Report comment
Captancy is more than just on the field.
To be sure Ponting is a very average strategist & poor tactician.
The other aspects of the role are very hard to comment on as we are not in the camp or the dressing room.
mushi said | August 28th 2009 @ 9:45am | Report comment
A while back I had a look at Ponting versus Waugh’s records when they both had McGrath and Warne at their disposal, punter certainly looked the goods then. Yet we now consider Ponting is this lame duck cricketing retard and Steve was the embodiment of leadership.
Terry Kidd said | August 28th 2009 @ 9:47am | Report comment
When Steve Waugh was out of the test side, having been dropped, he captained NSW in the Shield and I remember reported comments from his team mates at the time to the effect ‘tactically brilliant’, ‘a real good captain’. He then came back into the test team under Mark Taylor who was a very thoughtful and accomplished captain, but not very ruthless. Steve Waugh then succeeded Tubby as captain and took the test team and one day sides to new heights, even when McGrath and Warne were absent due to injury. Ricky Ponting does not stack up against either man regardless of playing personnel. McGrath and Warne both had a great say in the fields they wanted when bowling but Ricky does not seem to allow the same latitude to today’s bowlers. Maybe he should think about that?
Ian Chappell has far more cricket knowledge than me but I sometimes think his judgement is sadly lacking, as in this case where he says Ponting is better than Waugh. Pull the other one Chapelli.
FIsher Price said | August 28th 2009 @ 12:48pm | Report comment
Chappell holds a grudge against S Waugh and wanted the drugs cheat to be Taylor’s successor.
FIsher Price said | August 28th 2009 @ 12:42pm | Report comment
He sure will; in spite of the cavalcade of mates/apologists who ignore the negative results and Punter’s little boy lost portrayal when up against an opponent that doesn’t simply roll over.
I seem to remember Ponting spending the first two home Tests against South Africa hands on hips, hapless.
But, hey, next up comes West indies ‘C’ and a travelling Pakistan, so I suspect there’s little need for a decent captain in order for Australia to record crushing victories there.
Westy said | August 28th 2009 @ 12:49pm | Report comment
Apologists who reciognise he does not have Warne/McGrath and Gilchrist anymore. With due respects to Bill the best leg spinner and batsman wicketkeeper the world has seen and Mcgrath was also right up there.
FIsher Price said | August 28th 2009 @ 1:04pm | Report comment
That’s true but surely all of Ponting’s inadequacies can’t be attributed to the strength of the side he captains, which was – after all – number one in the world this time last week?
Mushi said | August 28th 2009 @ 5:51pm | Report comment
Who’s to say that the number 1 wasn’t an over achievement?
onside said | August 28th 2009 @ 2:07pm | Report comment
There are two types of captains;one has great fast bowlers,the other doesn’t.
Clive Lloyd did not have to think too much about strategy.
Great bowlers,like a good coat of paint, can disguise a multitude of mistakes.