I won't captain Test team, says Ponting

You're tired of the never looked the part view? Mate, it's about scoring runs and getting starts is not good enough. I agree that he has a bit of style but he ain't Ponting, especially in the field and he never will be. He's not scoring in the Shield at the moment so forget about him. Let him have a season in county cricket where he can score a lazy 1,000 runs, get his confidence back and then see how he goes at the start of next season. If he is up to it he'll respond to being dropped and become a better player. If I was coaching I would get him to stop hitting good shots straight to fielders, learn to rotate the strike and become more athletic in the field.

Disco I agree. dropping Khawaja from the test side has dented his confidence. He still makes starts, getting 20s in shield cricket, so he is not failing. But if the selectors had faith in Khawaja, like they did in Ponting and S.Marsh, theres a good chance Khawaja would've made the number 3 his own by now

As I said, Khawaja wasn't given the opportunity and his confidence was dented. Ponting was backed to the hilt (despite a two-year 'slump') and he rediscovered some measure of mojo against a crap Indian attack.

Bit quick to write Khawaja off there Superd. I think most learned judges thought he did look the part. He has been treated fairly shabbily, and its no surprise he is now struggling. For the first time in his career he cant get some runs. He will be back. But on Punter, very happy for him to be scoring runs again, hope it continues, but agree he should not be captain again, lets move on in that regard, if indeed it is an issue.

Irrelevant. if the selectors, not you, because Ponting is one of the best, had an eye for the future, they would be backing the next generation. Huss was no 5 in old Ceylon, now he's six. Similarly the great Punter is 4, where he needed to be for him but they are both in survival mode. It is no coincidence that wickets are fiesty. it's rained. The last three summers reflect that . The previous decade and a bit it was dry as. Disco is being kind. Apart from that look at the run past aussie selectors gave some of there players over there decades, Some get flyers, most str uggle. I'm tired of the Khawaja never looked like it view. He played a major part in a fourth innings win chasing 310. What do you want? And what is this can't field crap ?. You or i could have taken some of the short leg dollys Cowan took. Anyway, Khawaja and probably the hapless Marshy should both go to the West Indies, particularly if Clarkey is injured.

Swampy Marsh?

You must be joking. Khawaja has failed miserably since going back to the Shield and never really looked the part in the Test side. Added to his mediocre batting is his average fielding. Ponting's record speaks for itself. So he's not as good as 5-10 years ago. Still, if he played with his little toe he would be better than Khawaja.

There is no doubt Ponting was out of form in the test arena. I don't deny that at all. What I am pointing out is there was probably no adequate replacement based on what Ponting has since achieved in domestic cricket. It appears the selectors actually made the right decision in sticking with someone who had previously proved himself at test level versus someone who hadn't. We won the Indian series which surely is the objective at all times - to win the current match. There is no world cup of test cricket or Olympics that serves as a pinnacle of the sport. Hence there is no point on picking or planning for the future. Pick the best team available in the present. -- Comment left via The Roar's iPhone app. Download The Roar's iPhone App in the App Store here.

Good on Ricky for saying he should not be captain. Hopefully the selectors take note and do the right thing and pick someone else.

I'd have thought the team would have gained more from Khawaja getting the opportunities that Ponting had this summer. Perhaps Khawaja would've scored heavily against India and now be an integral member if the side instead of battling confidence issues after being shoved aside. Let's see what the Ponting does against a decent Test attack before falling back on "I told you so" as if it were a fact. After all Ponting's two years of mediocrity is no myth.

Totally agree!!! Does it mean that pointing is beating the door down bye scoring runs in shield cricket???? -- Comment left via The Roar's iPhone app. Download The Roar's iPhone App in the App Store here.

Normally expecting some vitriol from redkev in this comments section... Common theme through the summer has been how Ponting should have been dropped. Common counter argument was who was putting their hand up at domestic level. Well after finally being dropped Ponting has gone back to domestic and scored piles of runs which leads to 2 answers. Ponting is still among our best batsmen and averaging 65 at shield level should carry less weight than some people thought. -- Comment left via The Roar's iPhone app. Download The Roar's iPhone App in the App Store here.