Ponting must declare his captaincy innings closed
Columnist By Spiro Zavos, 5 Jan 2010 Spiro Zavos is a Roar Expert
- Tagged:
- Australian Cricket, Cricket, Geoff Lawson, pakistan cr, Pakistan cricket, Ricky Ponting, SCG, Test cricket, Waquar Younis
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Australia's captain Ricky Ponting, right, is bowled by England's Graeme Swann as wicketkeeper Matthew Prior, centre, looks on and Ravi Bopara jumps on the fourth day of the third cricket test match between England and Australia in Birmingham, England, Sunday Aug. 2, 2009. (AP Photo/Jon Super)
I was a guest at one of the VIP boxes at the SCG on Monday, the second day of the Australia Vs Pakistan Test. Yes, someone has to make these sacrifices.
The talk of the good and mighty in the box was all about the sheer folly of Ricky Ponting batting on a slick, green SCG pitch after winning the toss.
It’s history now that Australia was bowled out for 127, with the captain himself making a golden duck.
At the end of play on the second day, with Pakistan enjoying batting benign pitch in contrast to the rearing beat of the day before, Australia was over 200 runs behind and facing the possibility of an unexpected defeat.
The consensus was that Ponting was traumatised by his equally indefensible decision to put England into bat at Edgbaston in 2005. England won the Test easily, and with it, a winning lead in the Ashes.
“Ponting will never put the opposition in to bat again,” one of the good and mighty concluded.
But there is no hindsight wisdom required to question his decision not to put Pakistan into bat at the SCG. At a breakfast before the Test, Geoff Lawson, Waquar Younis and Stuart Clark were adamant that only the dimmest of captains would willingly bat on the rain-affected SCG pitch.
Ponting’s captaincy career has been marred by a series of inexcusable mistakes.
And this last one should be the mistake that concentrates the minds of the selectors – and the player himself (unlikely, perhaps) – that his captaincy innings should be declared closed.
Just as an aside, Richie Benaud revealed during Channel 9′s excellent television broadcast that the five best captains in his time watching and playing cricket were: Keith Miller, Mike Brearley, Ray Illingworth, Ian Chappell and Mark Taylor.
My guess is that everyone of these captains, and Benaud himself, who belongs in the great captains’ category, would have punted on putting Pakistan into bat.
There is, I know, an old cricket adage that is attributed (incorrectly like many attributions) to W.G.Grace: “You should sometimes think about putting the other side into bat and then never do it.”
Adages, though, like records, exist to be broken.
Sometimes the best thing to do is the most obvious thing. The obvious thing to do on Sunday was to put Pakistan into bat.
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January 5th 2010 @ 9:11am
Fisher Price said | January 5th 2010 @ 9:11am | Report comment
Stop press! Ponting has long been a liability as a leader. This was hardly the first piece of evidence as to his ineptitude.
January 5th 2010 @ 9:11am
Terry Kidd said | January 5th 2010 @ 9:11am | Report comment
Yes Sheek I agree with Frank Worrell …. if I had to I would include Sir Frank in preference for Tubby …. not for any other reason than the team under Tubby seemed to drop performance too often in dead rubbers …. Chappelli would never have allowed that. And what about Clive Lloyd to add to the list?
Since 1970 my list of best Australian Captains in order of preference is Chappelli, Taylor, Waugh, Border and Simpson. Notice Punter is not on my list? I don’t think his captaincy is in anyway inspired or thoughtful and I think his record has benefitted from having Warne, McGrath, Gilchrist, Hayden and Langer and a few other very good players in the side.
If Punter was to be replaced right now I would give the gig to Simon Katich and have him bat at No 3. Yes, I know he is the same age as Punter but he appears to be fitter and sharper plus he has a very good cricket brain and proved with NSW that he is a very very astute captain.
Of course all that is my humble opinion … but lol it should provide for some very worthwhile discussion and counter opinions. Cheers,
January 5th 2010 @ 9:49am
sheek said | January 5th 2010 @ 9:49am | Report comment
Terry,
I agree with you re Tubby. In fact, while he had a great tactical mind, he perhaps was a little soft as a leader. With the passage of time, I rate Border much higher than I used to. He proverbially had all the shit jobs thrown into his lap, all at the one time!
Like Chappell, he led from the front. I also think Waugh is up there. He is the most ruthless Aussie captain I’ve seen, & that’s saying something.
Chappelli is my #1, he led from the front, fought for the guys’ interests of the field, & is apparently still idolised by his team mates all these years later. Tugger Waugh is #2 for his ruthlessness & protector of Aussie cricket tradition. Border is #3 for doing so much for so long with so little.
Tubby Taylor is #4, perhaps the most tactically brilliant, but perhaps also too soft a leader. Bobby Simpson comes in at #5, hard-nosed in everything he did, but lacking flair & flexibility. And I agree with you Katich ought to be our next captain before Clarke.
The thing about Clive Lloyd is perhaps a bit the same as Punter (leading a team odf great players). He had 4 great pacemen at most times, plus Viv Richards. On the rare occasions wickets weren’t falling with regularity, I think Lloyd struggled with being innovative & inventive.
Picking my best Aussie XI from the past 40 years, unfortunately Punter would keep Chappelli out of the #3 batting slot. Consequently, the captaincy would fall to Tugger Waugh. For the record – Simpson, Hayden, Ponting, G.Chappell, Border(vc), S.Waugh(c), Gilchrist(k), Warne, Lillee, thomson, McGrath.
2nd XI; Lawry, Slater, I.Chappell(c), Cowper(vc), M.Waugh, Walters, Healy(k), Johnson, McKenzie, McDermott, Mallett. M.Taylor, R.Marsh(k) & Alderman round out my best 25 Aussie cricketers of the past 40 years.
With England, Brearley is clearly the best captain I’ve seen from them. But he was a hopeless test batsman. If I were picking the best England XI of the past 40 years, Illingworth would be my skipper & 2nd spinner (to Underwood). Of course, if Swann continues doing great deeds, he would replace Illy & I would have to find a new captain, perhaps Strauss, who I would have opening with Boycott, ahead of both Gooch & Amiss. But that’s another story………
January 5th 2010 @ 10:16am
Hansie said | January 5th 2010 @ 10:16am | Report comment
Ponting has had the advantage of being appointed captain of a great team. He has never had the understanding and ‘smarts’ of a Mark Taylor. The difficulty is who should replace him. The best captain in the team is Simon Katich, but he is 34 and does not feature in the abbreviated forms of the game. Clarke is the heir apparent, but he is unproven.
January 5th 2010 @ 10:45am
Terry Kidd said | January 5th 2010 @ 10:45am | Report comment
I don’t have any facts to back up what I’m about to say, it is just my ‘feel’ from a couple of past incidents and reported interviews done by Pup Clarke, but I would worry that he would not be fully accepted by all team members as Captain and may polarise attitudes thereby leading to a lowered team performance. So although he is unproven as Captain in the longer forms of the game I worry whether or not he has the leadership ability and thoughtfullness. I suppose we will find out in the next couple of years.
January 5th 2010 @ 11:22am
Rickety Knees said | January 5th 2010 @ 11:22am | Report comment
Pup is a pup. When he grows up to be a dog – I might take notice. Whereas Katich is the canine equivalent of a German Shepherd.
January 5th 2010 @ 11:46am
Gibbo said | January 5th 2010 @ 11:46am | Report comment
and what’s with clarke’s collar? startched to the max and turned up?
i actually rate the guy. even if he isnt the most traditional of captains there’s a fair chance he’ll remain composed and creative at all times. Just needs to get a bit grittier with the bat when the heat is on.
January 5th 2010 @ 7:44pm
Tom said | January 5th 2010 @ 7:44pm | Report comment
Pretty simple – it keeps the sun off his neck. Perfectly sensible if you ask me.
January 5th 2010 @ 12:05pm
Brett McKay said | January 5th 2010 @ 12:05pm | Report comment
so what’s really the bigger problem here in this Test – that Ponting should have bowled first, or that Australia couldn’t handle the combination of conditions and outstanding Pakistani bowling on Day 1??
For mine, I still don’t see the big problem in batting first, for it could still turn out to be a better option than batting last. All Out 127 is not flash though, and with the exception of a few, most of the Australian bats were not brought undone by the wicket. Peter Roebuck made an interesting observation on ABC yesterday morning while I drove back from Sydney, where he asked would there be all this panic about falling sky if Australia had been sent in?? And we already know that Yousef would have done exactly that had the coin fallen his way.
So as we start the second session of Day 3 now, Australia is only 120 behind and still with 10 wickets in hand. Batting conditions look almost ideal, and Watson and Hughes look well set. This is exactly the sort of showing I asked for in my column today..
The match is setting itself up for a thrilling finish, and if it reahes the almost inevitably thrilling conclusion it should, the events of the toss on Sunday morning will be long forgotten.
January 5th 2010 @ 12:11pm
Republican said | January 5th 2010 @ 12:11pm | Report comment
I tire of this ongoing ‘Punter’ witch hunt.
The Australian Cricket side has for many years been blessed with great batting depth which they very rarely use to full potential.
Subsequently a lazy culture has evolved amongst our batsman, whereby individuals are complacent in the comfort of feeling little pressure to perform in the middle. It is mostly our bowlers and fielding that rise to the occassion time and again in bringing us back from the brink.
Australia often struggle on a greener pitch as well and I believe the Kiwis will expose this further when Australia travel to NZ to do battle this year.
Cheers
January 5th 2010 @ 12:12pm
Spiro Zavos said | January 5th 2010 @ 12:12pm | Report comment
Sheek, just to divert from Ricky Ponting and the captaincy for a moment, I think that Frank Worrell was a great batsman and a great man who tragically died relatively young. But I don’t think he was a great captain. He had an extremely talented side, and Sir Garfield Sobers who was a team in one player. The results Worrall’s team got were mainly due to the brilliance of his individual players. As the first permanent black West Indian to captain the team he has an iconic place in the history of the game in the area.
Back to Ponting. I like the suggestion of Simon Katich as captain. I’d fancied Michael Clarke previously but there is the suggestion that the team is not with him. Katich could bat in North’s position as captain, which would allow Phillip Hughes to come back into the side and Shane Watson to remain opener.
I think it is time to give Steve Smith a go, too, in place of Nathan Hauritz. Richie Benaud was ‘carried’ for a season or two in the Test side, and Smith, probably a better bat than Benaud (but not as good a bowler) might benefit from a similar spell in the side.
January 5th 2010 @ 1:19pm
Matthew said | January 5th 2010 @ 1:19pm | Report comment
Steve Smith? On what basis is this bloke even in the squad?
Just 11 first class wickets in his career at an avg of over 75 and just 6 wickets at an avg of 81 this season.
He clearly shows promise as a youngster and its terrific to see new spinners emerging – very much a talent for the future.
But what must Jason Krejza, Callum Bailey, Beau Casson and Co be thinking? Even Aaron Heal in WA. What more does a bloke like Krejza have to do to get back in favour?
It seems Smith being a leggie is reason enough to be in the mix (or perhaps that age old chestnut, that he plays for NSW) – performance and results are apparently irrelevant and to me, that is an unacceptable precedent to be set by selectors.
Hauritz is solid at best and will never be a world beater but he has done nothing to lose his place, at least not to a bowler like Smith.
January 5th 2010 @ 7:46pm
Tom said | January 5th 2010 @ 7:46pm | Report comment
Finally someone said it – in what parallel universe is someone who averages 75 in first class cricket suddenly considered good enough for the Australian team? I thought Phillip Hughes was raw but at least he did some good in his limited first class career prior to being selected.
January 6th 2010 @ 1:14am
Axelv said | January 6th 2010 @ 1:14am | Report comment
Apparently, being a New South Welshman is all you need to be selected for the Australian side.
January 6th 2010 @ 9:36am
Tom said | January 6th 2010 @ 9:36am | Report comment
Nothing worse than a bitter Mexican conspiracy theorist…
January 6th 2010 @ 4:55pm
ren said | January 6th 2010 @ 4:55pm | Report comment
I actually group you both together- gotta have that eastern states quota maintained.
January 5th 2010 @ 8:38pm
Fisher Price said | January 5th 2010 @ 8:38pm | Report comment
Well Krejza could actually show that he’s a decent Shield bowler for a start. I don’t think Smith is ready but nor do i rate Krejza.
January 5th 2010 @ 12:25pm
westy said | January 5th 2010 @ 12:25pm | Report comment
Spiro during the same interview Benaud also made clear he had Alan davidson to bowl sides out. During Ponting’s captaincy he has had 28 new caps in his team. In Waugh’s captaincy he oversaw only 7 new caps.
Skull said it best . Ricky is a fighter and his team do respond to him and follow him. He is a leader a company commander on the battlefron tthe pity is he is not a stategist. Ponting is much more a leader than Greg Chappell ever was.
But as Skull acknowledged it is much easier to be a grand strategist when you can throw the ball to an experienced match winning bowler . When you could throw the ball to a Davidson /Lilee/thompson/Mcgrath or Warne and in the immortal words of Brearley to Botham ” Just get them out”
Just to reinforce the point Spiro from Benaud list of captains including himself check the matchwinning bowler each had at his disposal Benaud (Davidson ) Illingworth (Snow) Brearley ( Botham) Taylor ( Warne and Mcgrath ) Ian Chappell (lilee and thompson). I do not see the same match winning bowler in Ponting’s lineup.
Remember Miller never got his chance for Australia and one Alan Border happened to be a great captain in charge of one of the weakest teams in Australia’s history.
January 5th 2010 @ 3:22pm
sheek said | January 5th 2010 @ 3:22pm | Report comment
Westy,
Chappelli didn’t always have Lillee & Thomson. For most of 1973 & 74, he had to do without both. He had only medium-fast pacemen in Walker, Dymock, Dell & Gilmour.
He did have young Jeff Hammond in the Windies in 1973, who replaced Lillee when he broke down. Hammond was fast, but very raw.
The period 1972-74 defined Chappelli’s captaincy. Yes, he had Lillee with him for the 1972 Ashes series. But Australia performed magnificently to square the series 2-2 with an English team at the time which was better man for man.
In 72-73 the Aussies beat Pakistan 3-0, but in both the 2nd & 3rd tests, Chappelli through his bold captaincy helped alter probable defeats into victory. By any measure, Australia should have lost the 3rd test.
In the Windies in 1973, Lillee broke down in the first test in which he was ineffectual. Massie had lost his rhythm & swing. Walker began the series with just two tests & Hammond was a new cap. The Aussies won 2-0 in a 5 test series.
In 1973-74, Australia beat NZ 3-1 in two 3 test series played at home & away. Thomson, Hurst & Dell each played one test, Gilmour & Dymock 3 tests apiece & Walker 4 tests. By the end of these 6 tests, Walker was the only one to have reached double figures in test appearances.
Lillee, Thomson, Hammond & Hurst, all genuine pacemen were injured & out of first-class cricket for one reason or another during the winter of 1974.
At the risk of rabbiting on, the point is, Chappelli was able to make do with limited resources when he was so exposed. He showed it again during the WSC Aussies-Windies series in the Caribbean in 1979. Man for man, the Windies were superior at the time, but the Aussies managed to square a 5 test series 1-1.
True, Ponting doesn’t have the same cattle as ay Waugh did. But neither does he appear to have that extra something special that separates the great captains from the good captains.
January 5th 2010 @ 12:31pm
westy said | January 5th 2010 @ 12:31pm | Report comment
Miller had himself to bowl. Davis to Miller in a shield game ” How do you want to set the field ?” Give me the ball and just spread out.