Why Punter is an unlikeable man

really, stop Ponting bashing please. If you dont like him, fine don't but like some other here have said, it is meaningless to write this article

Maybe one of the reasons for Clark not getting many overs as the Oval, was because he was on his way to an average of 44 for the series.

There’s becoming a major difference between cricket and rugby in New Zealand in that cricket has more money http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-sport/nzru-tightens-its-belt-again-20091028-hkrq.html “……….The New Zealand Rugby Union's (NZRU) belt will be tightened further in 2010, with losses forecast for the next three financial terms…….” http://www.cricinfo.com/newzealand/content/story/430720.html “…..NZC reports $6.84million surplus……..”

I've never read more whinging in my life.

Likeable, well that can only ever be a personal decision by each and everyone of us, but it seems that if you don't like him then every one of his curious habits, biting fingernails and spitting in the hands infuriates you, coupled with some poor decision making as captain, leave him open to all kinds of slander. Can anyone think of the last Aust capt. that actually had any real captaincy experience before becoming Aust. capt? Probably AB, as he was capt. of Qld, Taylor, Waugh and Ponting didn't capt. there states before being thrust the Aust. job, so at one time or another we'll get a capt. who's not as tactically nouse as Taylor! Now for those saying Ponting should stand down, well apart from not being the Aust way, it also can have another affect, think back to the English side a decade or so ago or the Pakistan and Indian teams of the same era, they had multiple ex-capt in the team which led to lots of disharmony through the squad and a not very consistent performance. Although Tendulkar and Dravid are in the current Indian team and are former capt. they can't be used as a guide, Tendulkar was given the capt. based on being the best player in the team/world, which meant he was also the most popular for the job, but not the best and Dravid's form was not great as capt although his captaincy was pretty good. It doesn't make sense to change the capt and keep the former capt in the team, especially when there is no stand out replacement, Clarke has only ever capt the hit and giggle varieties of the game, so we have no idea whether he'll be any better. I'm surprised Pontings got any finger nails left, after a succesful tour of S.A his strike bowler goes completely AWOL and would be lucky to make a grade team the way he's bowling, I think any of us would stand at second slip with a the look of someone who just lost his last $5 if our strike bowler couldn't hit the pitch! His captaincy is not in the same park as Taylor or Border, Waugh had a great team at his disposal, so was never or rarely in Pontings position, his decision making can only be judged on the outcomes and now with no out and out bowling match winners in his team, his decision are judged harshly! But to write an article about whether he's likeable or not is meaningless, you either like him or you don't!!

Gotta love Punter - - he's a huge North Melbourne fan - - that alone says he's a top bloke. ;-)

If I could distill 15 years of close-hand observation of New Zealand cricket into one sentence it would probably be this: the biggest problem with cricket in New Zealand is that it is seen through the prism of rugby. The two are very different sports, and it is a big mistake to have rugby attitudes about cricket. Relevance? OME, I know that you are a rugby man, and I find myself agreeing with most of your words on rugby. I'd wager that most of the 50 closest mates you texted are also rugby people first and foremost. So you all judge Ponting as you would a rugby person, and you find him wanting. Of course he's not perfect - who is? - but as a cricketer and as a cricket captain he measures up. Let me also say, as an unabashed Ponting fan, that it's time for him to step down as captain. His batting has started the slow path of decline, so he needs to concentrate on it - in the few years he's got left he will be more value to Australia as a non-captaining great batsman than as a captain who is merely a good batsman. Dravid and Tendulkar are good role models for him in this respect (Indian cricket has been strengthened by them stepping down from the captaincy). Every Australian cricket follower of any age needs to be in no doubt that it is unacceptable for any Australian captain, no matter how good a player, to lose the Ashes twice to England. To retain Ponting as captain would be to send out a message that repeated failure like this is acceptable. In Australian cricket it is not. Unfortunately I doubt that Australian cricket currently has a strong enough leadership to realize the above simple fact.

You ask "Why is Punter such an unlikeable man?" And I wonder, why would you think he should be anything else? It reminds me of the time a few years ago when the great soccer player George Best died and various anally retentive types on the television were agonising over whether such a dissolute, hard drinking, long-haired, gambling, womanising showman was a good role model for young people. It was never any part of George Best's mission on this earth to be a role model; instead, as somebody who could "entertain", as one newspaper euphemistically put it,four Miss Worlds, not to mention legions of lesser title winners; win vital European Cup ties on his own, away to great teams of the time like Benfica; and score goals which appeared to necessitate him dribbling past eight defenders ("I only beat four but I beat two of them three times") he was a fantasy figure. A role model is somebody you watch and say "I could do that"; a fantasy figure is somebody you watch and marvel "How the bloody hell did he do that?" It is just as impertinent to expect Ponting to be a nice chap as it was to expect Best to be a role model. Of course, he's a horrid little man. It's his job, the specification for which was written many years ago. As one of his predecessors put it in his memoirs: "I'd much prefer any team I captained to be described ..[as a bunch of bastards]..than as 'a nice bunch of blokes on the field.' As captain of Australia my philosophy was simple: between 11.00am and 6.00pm there was no time to be a nice guy. " Ian Chappell, for it was he, can rest assured that he got his wish. Ever since his time successive generations of Australian players from Lillee and Thompson to Border, Waugh, Healy, McGrath and Warne have taken delight in preening, boorish, bullying provocative behaviour intended to unsettle opposing teams. One can recognise the success, in terms of results, of Australian cricket teams since the 1970s, one can admire their players' cricketing skills, one can acknowledge their determination to win. But nowhere is there any requirement that one should actually like them for it. You can't have it both ways lads. You can't say "I'd rather be a bastard" and then complain when somebody calls you one. As the Bard of Salford John Cooper Clarke might put it "His problems are the end His mouth needs exercise The last thing I need is another friend I don't want to be nice I'm not your psychoanalyst I'd rather talk to mice You're so easy to resist I don't want to be nice "

He doesn't come across as arrogant, angry and defensive

Yes frightful chap what with all that spitting on his hands and questioning umpire decisions. One would think the Board of Control would undertake a proper appraisal of their captains, where they went to school and who their friends are. Ghastly!

'Old Man Emu' are you even an Australian ?

Ponting is a gambler first and foremost - he will back his 'instincts' and take a punt, hence his nickname. All well and good in the short form of the game, when there will always be a winner, or when you have great players at your disposal. But take that same approach into the 5-day game when you actually have to have a Plan A, Plan B and Plan C - and be able to work out what is going right or wrong, and all your worldbeaters have retired, and you see very clearly the lack of brains. On the last day of the first Test in Cardiff, why did he ignore the only wrist spinner? Because he doesn't like him. Why did Stuart Clark get so few overs at The Oval? Why has Ponting not been able to generate anything better than 2 wins out of 10 Tests on English soil? Then again, why are our fast bowlers going for 4 an over while England's honest triers are landing on a good length suddenly? Ponting does not seem to be able to captain a side when he loses the toss and Australia bowls first (Headingley aside when the pitch aided seam bowling).

I don’t know Ponting so I don’t know if he’s likeable or not. He’s a great cricketer but

Personally I am sick of the Ponting bagging. It sounds like you are living in the past. It also sounds like you a bad loser, I have noticed the baggers are always quiet when the team is winning. But start losing and out they come like a rabble of second rate hacks. The fact is Ponting is a better player and captain than any of the players you mention. As to your attacks on his character, I think they say more about you than him.

Morning, OME, I can be as bipolar as the best of them. We see in people ,sometimes,what we want to see. I have seen Ponting struggle at times but I still see a great batsman and a magnificent fielder first. Then I see a captain struggling with the inconsistency of a young pace attack. Yesterday Johnson was rubbish and bowled short,wide and too full all in the same over. How can you set a field to that? Siddle was ineffective and blows hot and cold and poor Stuart Clark was given the charge by Strauss. Hilfenhaus,so dependable previously,bowled like Dominic Cork....remember him? No, I think Ponting is judged too harshly.

Unbelievable. I bag the guy and in the space of one hours play he does two things of the type I have been waiting to see for 15 years.He cops a screamer on the chin and he is straight back up - in true david Boon fashion. And then when Flintoff comes to bat he shakes his hand. Pity he cant set a field. Vijay are you a real guy? You are much too balanced and polite to be on this site.

>>> text fifty or so of my closest mates with the comment, “I just cannot warm to Ponting.” Sheesh how 20th century. Haven't you heard of Twitter?

OME, With that kind of combative attitude, I have just the place for you - straight into the front row, old boy!

I was about to write the same thing!

You can blame me OME