Australian cricket captain Ricky Ponting has backed batsman Mike Hussey to regain form for the Ashes and endorsed him to stay with the one-day side.
Hussey is high on a list of problems for Australia ahead of the first Ashes Test on November 25 in Brisbane after making a golden duck and three in Western Australia’s Sheffield Shield match at Adelaide Oval.
But Ponting, who will miss Wednesday’s first one-day international against Sri Lanka at the MCG to attend his grandmother’s funeral, doesn’t think more state cricket would benefit the middle-order batsman.
“I haven’t looked that closely at it, if he’s missing any state cricket while he’s around here with this team,” Ponting said.
“There’s probably a debate around that, at the end of the day all the players want to be playing as many games for Australia as they possibly can.
“It’s important then that you maximise your training time and the time you get in the middle, to make sure your game is where it needs to be.”
Michael Clarke will lead Australia in Ponting’s absence for Wednesday’s match.
“I will be flying out tomorrow morning to attend the funeral and then flying straight back to the ground tomorrow afternoon,” Ponting said.
“I wanted to be here yesterday and today to maximise my time around the team and get my preparation right for the coming games.”
Ponting believes Hussey will regain his touch ahead of the Ashes, but the middle-order batsman is under mounting pressure to retain his Test spot.
“Unfortunately for him he missed out twice, but I’ve had a good chat to him today, he’s very clear in his own mind about what he needs to do and he feels he’s on the right track,” Ponting said.
“His preparation has been good for every game that he’s played – class players like him generally find a way to get it done and I’m sure that over the next few one-day games against Sri Lanka, you’ll see him score some runs.”
Ponting also tried to downplay Australia’s five-match losing streak, which goes back to July, but conceded they needed wins ahead of the much-anticipated Ashes series.
Most recently, Sri Lanka belted Australia by seven wickets in Sunday’s Twenty20 match.
“There’s no sugar-coating anything, we know we have some work to do, and we haven’t played one-day cricket for a little while,” Ponting said.
“There’s no doubt it’s always a different feel around the changerooms when you are winning games of cricket and we have to start that off pretty soon, hopefully that’s tomorrow.”
Ponting said inclement weather meant Australia would wait until Wednesday morning to finalise their lineup for the day nighter.
His Tasmanian team-mate Xavier Doherty is a good chance to make his one-day international debut.
Squads (12th men to be named):
AUSTRALIA: Michael Clarke (capt), Xavier Doherty, Brad Haddin, John Hastings, Michael Hussey, Mitchell Johnson, Shaun Marsh, Clint McKay, Peter Siddle, Steven Smith, Mitchell Starc, Shane Watson, Cameron White.SRI LANKA: Kumar Sangakkara (capt), Dinesh Chandimal, Dilhara Fernando, Chamara Kapugedera, Lasith Malinga, Jeevan Mendis, Thisara Perera, Chamara Silva, Mahela Jayawardene, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Suraj Randiv, Nuwan Kulasekara, Angelo Mathews, Muttiah Muralitharan, Dammika Prasad, Upul Tharanga.
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