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Australian captain Ricky Ponting with his fractured left little finger, after winning the Third Ashes Test Match in Perth. Sunday, 19th December, 2010. ( AP Photo/Steve Wake )
Veteran Channel 9 commentator Bill Lawry will be watching the Ricky Ponting saga unfold tonight, with a great deal of interest. Ponting’s under the pump after a disastrous summer, with growing calls to end his captaincy reign.
Nobody knows that better than William Morris Lawry, the unwanted record-holder of being the only Australian captain sacked during a series.
In one of the more disgraceful moments in Australian cricket history, right up there with the infamous 1981 underarm delivery, Lawry was dropped for the seventh Ashes Test in 1971.
And nobody told him.
Left in the dark by the Australian Cricket Board, and the selectors, Lawry flew from Adelaide to his home-town Melbourne, to be greeted at Tullamarine by a media maul and to find out his fate for the first time.
Ian Chappell was installed as skipper for the SCG, making the famous quote: “The bastards won’t get me they way they got Bill”.
And they didn’t, not by a long shot.
Ponting can’t say the same, with tonight’s World Cup clash against India at Ahmedabad career-defining for the 36-year-old.
It’s interesting to compare how Lawry was batting at the time to Ponting.
Lawry had scored 340 runs at 40.50, with three half-centuries in the 1970-71 Ashes campaign when he was shown the door – not shabby against a career average of 47.15 over 67 Tests.
Many batsmen have been dropped for far less.
But Ponting averaged 16.14, including an unbeaten 51, in the Ashes series – career average of 53.51 in 152 Tests – and is averaging 20.40 in this World Cup, against a ODI career average of 42.39 over 358 matches.
Ponting’s under the pump alright for his prime role in the side – not scoring runs. But also for his captaincy and attitude.
Losing three Ashes series in four doesn’t do the CV any good. Drawing 1-1 with Pakistan and losing 2-0 to India only magnifies the Test problem.
During this World Cup, Ponting damaged a television set after being run out against Zimbabwe, spat the dummy when Steve Smith collided with him taking a catch against Canada, and played with a fractured pinky on his left hand.
All have played a role in why Ponting’s future is rocky.
Having badly damaged his finger at the WACA in the third Ashes Test, Ponting shouldn’t have played in the fourth, a selfish decision that should have been denied by either Cricket Australia or the selectors.
Eventually Ponting did the right thing and pulled out of the fifth Ashes Test, had finger surgery, gave the entire seven-game ODI series against England a miss, but declared himself fit for the World Cup.
But Ponting wasn’t fit, and the World Cup has proved the point. It’s the pinky that has impacted on the team, as much as the run-drought.
Ponting strongly argues his finger is okay, but if that’s the case, why isn’t he fielding in the cordon where his catching is such a major asset to the side?
So, tonight will be Ponting’s moment of truth. Another failure and he’s gone.
Even a big score will only delay the inevitable. Not a fitting ending to the career of the second most prolific batsman in international cricket history.
Despite his obvious shortcomings, Ricky Ponting remains defiant.
“I’ll know when the time is right for me to step aside as captain, or step aside as a player. Right now, I don’t think the time is right”.
Bill Lawry will be watching. He wasn’t ready to step aside as captain, or player, either.