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It’s hard for me to say this, but Ricky… you were wrong. I’ve long been a supporter of the Australian captain, but i’m afraid his latest public display of frustration was out of line.
Despite several dummy spits, mid-wicket rants and broken televisions, I’ve managed to keep my opinion of Ponting within the realms of reality.
He’s a high profile sports person under lots of pressure, there’s bound to be a boil-over or seven.
I prefer my Australian captains to have plenty of fire in the belly.
But this time enough is enough.
Ponting’s latest “oh dear that didn’t look great moment” came during Australia’s 7-wicket win over Canada at the World Cup.
In the 42nd over, Canada’s Harvir Baidwan, a man whose Cricinfo bio strangely describes him as a right-arm military-medium bowler, skied Jason Krejza to mid-off.
Ponting instantly called for the catch, but Steve Smith also had eyes for the ball. The two bumped into each other, but thankfully Ponting still caught the not so dangerous Baidwan.
No harm then? It seemed everyone except Punter was relieved.
After he took the catch, the Aussie skipper turned to Smith and gave him a stare that would leave Frosty in a puddle on a cold winters day.
He then threw the ball, with all his might, into the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium turf.
The only thing hurt was Steve Smith’s feelings, but it wasn’t a great look.
How is Smith meant to get a date to next years Allan Border Medal ceremony now? He’s just been sent to the naughty corner where his nose will be placed against the wall until further notice.
Now, I can understand why Ponting was unimpressed.
His bowlers had just spent the better part of the innings making 19-year-old Canadian opener Hiral Patel look like Adam Gilchrist. The right-hander helped Canada pass 50 quicker than any other team at the tournament so far. He also scored his half century off just 37-balls.
Unfortunately, Patel is no Adam Gilchrist. In 12 one-day-international innings before the World Cup, Patel had been dismissed for less than 20 ten times.
The Australian bowling attack has been made to look second rate during the tournament and you sense Ponting has had enough.
Australia could only take 6 wickets against Kenya and three of those were run-outs!
All the post-game talk of building nicely for the business end of the tournament is getting pretty hard to swallow.
In a tournament that’s being beamed around the world, Ponting’s reaction to running into Smith was poor. You hope they had a chat and patched things up in the change-room because something like that could damage a young players confidence. Next-Gen likes to be cuddled and told they’re brilliant, not given the cold shoulder.
His many critics, especially those on the sub-continent, will be rubbing their hands together with glee at the moment.
Some will take it as a sign that all is not well within the camp. For the rest of us, it’s just annoying to see.
“It wasn’t a great reaction I guess,” Ponting said after the match.
“It was something that happened in the heat of the battle. If it looked bad I apologise for it.”
It did.
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