Forget all the talk about Ricky Ponting’s future as Australia’s ODI captain, that’s only clouding the real issue. If he loses the ODI captaincy, or is dropped, Ponting’s vulnerable for the one position he desperately wants to keep – the Test captaincy.
This job is rated by many as the second most important job in Australia, after the Prime Minister.
That’s why, despite bowing out early in the World Cup quarters, Ponting isn’t going away.
Not by a long shot, although there was a softening on his arrival home yesterday to his “I’m staying” attitude in Ahmedabad.
Maybe on the return flight, Ponting realised that sounded pretty arrogant. He was virtually saying, “I don’t give a continental what the selectors think, I’m going to continue to play until I reckon it’s time to go”.
No one, even a long-term Australian cricket captain, dictates to the selectors, without paying the ultimate price.
So Ponting has vowed to spend the next few days letting the dust settle as he ponders over his future, adding he’s prepared to play under a new ODI captain, and drop down the order – a shrewd move with Test captain potentials in sight.
There are growing concerns Michael Clarke isn’t the answer for our captain woes, proving the folly in the time-honoured tradition Australian vice-captains are automatically appointed captain when the incumbent retires, or is sacked.
* Clarke can be irrational, and it’s more important he makes runs than toss coins: they don’t seem to mix for him.
* Michael Hussey would make a good captain, but he doesn’t want the job.
* Keeper Brad Haddin’s another potential, as he’s proved with NSW, but he won’t accept while Ponting’s playing, and even then he’s not that keen.
* Cameron White has always done a great job leading the Vics, but he’s not a Test player.
* Maybe Shane Watson is the man, but that’s all it is, a maybe. He has no first-class experience in the role.
The cold hard truth is there’s no outstanding replacement for Ponting, so he’s playing poker with the decision-makers.
But first up he must stay in the side for the Bangladesh three-game ODI series next month to make enough runs to keep the selectors interested to retain him in the Test side.
His carefully constructed century against India last week, his first for 13 monhs, has kept those chances alive. Another failure, and we wouldn’t be having this discussion – “Punter” would be punted.
But Ponting’s recent CV at Test level, isn’t crash hot.
* A 1-1 drawn series with Pakistan, in England.
* A 2-0 loss to India, in India.
* And the clincher, the 3-1 Ashes series loss at home – Ponting’s third in four as captain, no Australian captain can match that.
The first Ashes loss in 2005 included the big guns – Matt Hayden, Justin Langer, Adam Gilchrist, Shane Warne, and Glenn McGrath.
That was the first time Ponting’s captaincy came under fire, there was no way the Australians should have lost that series with the ammunition Ponting had to fire.
And the big guns were there again at home for Ponting’s second Ashes series, handsomely won by the baggy greens 5-0.
Since then no heavies – all retired – and no series wins.
So the next couple of weeks will be very interesting, as Ponting’s future unravels.
Australian cricket is at the crossroads, and how Ricky Ponting is treated will determined the direction.
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