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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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