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Australia has now played five ODIs this summer, and Ricky Ponting has contributed 18 runs (2, 1, 6, 2, and 7) at a strike rate of 27.
That is the worst record of any batsman used in the series (and Australia’s batting overall has been poor). It is unacceptable from a specialist batsman, especially one that either opens or comes in at first drop.
It is not just that he is getting out either; it is how he is getting out.
After convincing the fickle public (although not this observer) that he had overcome his batting difficulties in the Test series against India this summer, Ponting has gone back to falling toward the offside with his head outside the line of the ball, and getting out cheaply.
Why the difference between the Tests and the ODIs, given that his Test double-century was only a few weeks ago?
Two reasons, both mental (and as any sportsperson will attest, more than half of any success at the top level is mental).
One: the Indians care about limited overs cricket. Their bowling is sharper, their fielding is unrecognisable. With the white ball they believe they are a match for anyone.
India, and Sri Lanka for that matter, are here to win, their attitude and play is far more competitive, and so Ponting is not getting the easy run he had in the tests.
Two: Ponting himself is ageing (both his reflexes and his mental application are ‘looser’ than they used to be). Ricky Ponting now is not the same batsman who won three consecutive ODI World Cups as Australia’s number three.
He is no longer a flamboyant stroke-maker and dominator of attacks, he is now a middle-order grinder who has to focus and work hard for his runs. He is clearly not capable of focussing and working hard every innings.
It is not as though the selectors can claim that no-one is banging on the door either.
This season alone, Usman Khawaja’s Ryobi Cup average is 108 at a strike rate of 90 (two centuries in two matches with one to come on Feb 22). His career List-A average is over 40, though he has played fewer than 20 games. However his Shield form since being dropped has been poor, and it is too early to recall him.
Michael Klinger (ODD season average 52.13), Callum Ferguson (ODD season average 56.00) and Tom Cooper (ODD season average 87.75) are enjoying good Ryobi Cup seasons despite mediocre Shield seasons.
George Bailey (ODD season average 34.29) and Rob Quiney (ODD season average 44.29) are doing well in both the Ryobi Cup and the Sheffield Shield, as is Test opener Ed Cowan (ODD season average 58.00) who should not be pigeon-holed as a long-format specialist.
Any of those six would be a better option in the ODIs than Ricky Ponting.
The selectors are clearly scared of being remembered as the people who tapped Ricky Ponting on the shoulder and told him it was time.
But it is time, and if they were evaluating him rationally and under fair criteria he wouldn’t be retained in the side or on the plane to the West Indies. In truth, he should not have played any international cricket since the Boxing Day test of 2010.
Ricky, it’s time to take a bow and exit stage left, at least from ODIs. In my opinion your time is up in all formats of international cricket, though I don’t think the selectors will drop you from the Test side just yet.
Nonetheless, do the right thing and bow out of limited-overs cricket.
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