Ricky Ponting has described Australia’s leading cricketers as the Michael Jordans and Wayne Rooneys of the sport in articulating his support for the controversial rotation policy.
Fans, broadcasters and former players have criticised the strategy of resting top-tier stars during the summer as the Australian selectors seek to manage workloads during an increasingly congested schedule.
Skipper Michael Clarke, opening batsman David Warner, wicketkeeper Matthew Wade and paceman Mitchell Starc are amongst those who have been rotated in and out of the Test, one-day and Twenty20 squads over the past few months.
Retiring from international cricket last month after a glittering 18-year career, Ponting said on Monday night that it’s impossible to expect the best players to be at their best every game given the packed calendar that includes the T20 big bucks on offer in the IPL and Champions League.
“I’m totally for it,” Ponting said emphatically when asked what he thought of the rotation policy on Fox Sports show Inside Cricket.
“The people that are making these decisions are making them for the right reasons.
“They’re making them for the betterment of the team and the individual players.
“I can understand that the public sometimes can be a little bit disappointed that our best players aren’t playing every game.
“But I really think it’s impossible to expect the best players to play every game.
“I mean … Michael Jordan probably didn’t start in every game that the Chicago Bulls played; Wayne Rooney doesn’t play every game for Manchester United.”
The 38-year-old is adamant the current approach is the best one for Australian cricket and will hopefully win over the public over the next 12 months following a draining four-Test series in India, the ICC Champions Trophy and 10 Ashes Tests.
“There are arguments out there at the moment suggesting that what we’re doing is not working and we should go back to the way it was 10 or 15 years ago,” he said.
“I’ve been around and seen it all and the track that we are on is definitely the right one.
“We need to be giving every one of our young players in Australia every possible opportunity to become the best players they possibly can be.
“Hopefully on Wednesday you’ll see the one-day team bounce back and then when the boys get to India for the Test series you’ll see them play some great cricket and then see them win the Ashes back as well.
“If they do that, a lot of the critics will be silenced.”
Brendon
Guest
Umm it was partly your idea wasn't it Ricky? What else you gonna say?
josh
Roar Rookie
Cricket rotation doesn't work the same rotation in other sports. Coming off the bench is not the same as rotation. In other sports specifically what Ponting was referring, soccer and basketball, are completely different to cricket. In each game you can have a few games off, come off the bench and work your way back into a game. You have more match time. If you are out for two games in cricket, you can have, when batting, one ball and your innings is all over. No further chance to work back up to match fitness. Who does that benefit. Playing any grade of cricket, not just net sessions is surely preferable than sitting around for two weeks. Rotation for rotation's sake doesn't work in cricket.
Chris Riediger
Guest
Even if Michael Jordan was rested - and I'm pretty positive he wasn't - the NBA season is 82 games plus a post-season that can be as long as 26 games (in Jordan's time, 28 now). Even if you play every day of international cricket for your side in a given year, it's at most 100 days of cricket with half of the time spent in the dressing room. There are a number of differences that make the comparison pointless. Firstly, Ponting is talking about league-based competitions and not best-of series. The impact of a negative result is much, much less and the ability to rest key players when the risk is low given the gap between best and worst sides is much higher. ManU can afford such "luxuries" as to rest someone like Rooney, I doubt the bottom of the table EPL sides have the same luxury with their marquee players. Doubt you'd see Rooney rested in the Champions League'! Cricket, of course, has very few "league" competitions and so the impact of a loss is much, MUCH greater. Secondly, those sports all have "substitution" mechanisms available to them to help manage player workload. Other than using a 12th man for fielding, cricket does not have this. So if a player isn't performing in a given match, you can just "sub" them for someone else. It's much harder to hide a poor performer in cricket - particularly in contests involving the most competitive teams. Thirdly, those sports are "domestic" and not "international" ... those players are representing a club, not their country. Whilst a number of international players are "not available" for meaningless international fixtures (quite common in soccer), those players aren't being "rested" ... they are still playing for their clubs. It would be like Michael Clarke to turning out for his Grade club or NSW whilst Australia are playing West Indies in a one-off ODI "trial" in the lead-up to the World Cup. The rotation system is utter nonsense ... it is the sporting administrators having an each-way bet and sitting on the fence regarding domestic vs. international prioritisation. Face it, if it weren't for the billions of dollars in the IPL and the billions of dollars in TV rights on the sub-continent driving the volume of matches for the elite up, we'd have no need to manage elite player workloads with "rotation". CA aren't prepared to force players to choose between IPL and Australia for fear of repercussions - it's simply politics first, not performance first. And elite players like Ricky Ponting aren't going to speak out against it because they are the beneficiaries of it ... they can play IPL for big paychecks and get a Baggy Green whilst the administrators of the game take the brunt of negative public opinion.
Ballymore
Guest
As far back as Steve Waugh's 2001 Captain's Diary he mentioned EPL teams as users of the rotation system. This debate has been had before. -- Comment left via The Roar's iPhone app. Download The Roar's iPhone App in the App Store here.
Darwin stubby
Guest
Ricky really wasn't known for his smarts ... This just confirms it
Jason
Guest
I'm pretty sure Jordan did play every game, barring injury. In fact, NBA sides get fined for resting too many of their top players. http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/8718626/nba-commissioner-david-stern-says-san-antonio-spurs-rested-too-many-players-too-early
Red Kev
Guest
Has Ponting seen the Premier League's match schedule? If he thinks there's any parallel to cricket he's had a lobotomy since he retired.