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Ricky Ponting resigns as Australia captain

Admin — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 10:50:37 +0000

Ricky Ponting has resigned as Australia captain but wants to carry on playing for the team.
The 36-year-old made the announcement in Sydney after arriving home following his side’s World Cup quarter-final defeat by co-hosts India.
“I have decided to stand down as captain of the Test and one-day teams as of now,” he told a news conference.
The 36-year-old had led Australia in one-day internationals since 2002 and Tests since 2004. He had been under increasing pressure to quit as skipper since the Ashes series defeat to England on home soil earlier this year.
“The main reason for me is I think it’s the right time … I wanted to make sure that I gave the next captain every opportunity I possibly could to make sure he has as much experience going forward in the next couple of big events that we will play.”
The most successful captain in 134 years of Test cricket, Ponting said he aimed to continue playing the game at the highest level.
His time in charge encompassed his country’s domination of world cricket and steady decline after the retirement of a golden generation of players.
“I am really excited about the next chapter in my career… I think I’ve got a lot to offer as a player and certainly as a leader for some of the younger players around, if and when required,” he said.
Ponting denied he had jumped before he was pushed.
“I’ll absolutely go on record here to say that I’ve had absolutely no tap on the shoulder,” he said.
“This is a decision that’s been wholly and solely made by me and people close to me.”
Australia won 48 of 77 Tests and 164 of 228 one-day internationals, including two World Cups, under Ponting.
No other captain has won as many games in either form.
Admired but rarely loved in Australia, Ponting admitted that his tenure as his country’s 42nd Test captain would probably be remembered by some for the three Ashes series losses he oversaw.
“It’s funny how we talk about losing the Ashes series three times,” he said.
“Playing on three World Cup winning teams doesn’t come up every often, winning 16 consecutive Test matches doesn’t come up very much, winning 30-odd consecutive World Cup matches doesn’t come up very often.
“I know within myself… what I’ve achieved in the game and I’m very proud of it.”
Cricket Australia said the new captain would be named on Wednesday and Ponting gave strong backing to Clarke, who stood in for the injured captain in the final Ashes Test and for the one-day series against England that followed.
“He’s done a terrific job in almost every game he’s captained Australia,” said Ponting.
“I totally would endorse Michael Clarke as the next captain.”
Australia went to the World Cup looking for a fourth straight title but returned home after defeat to India in the last eight, their remarkable unbeaten run in the tournament having been ended at 34 matches by Pakistan in the group stage.
Ponting denied he had jumped before he was pushed.
“I’ll absolutely go on record here to say that I’ve had absolutely no tap on the shoulder,” he said.
“This is a decision that’s been wholly and solely made by me and people close to me.”
Australia won 48 of 77 Tests and 164 of 228 one-day internationals, including two World Cups, under Ponting.
No other captain has won as many games in either form.
Admired but rarely loved in Australia, Ponting admitted that his tenure as his country’s 42nd Test captain would probably be remembered by some for the three Ashes series losses he oversaw.
“It’s funny how we talk about losing the Ashes series three times,” he said.
“Playing on three World Cup winning teams doesn’t come up every often, winning 16 consecutive Test matches doesn’t come up very much, winning 30-odd consecutive World Cup matches doesn’t come up very often.
“I know within myself… what I’ve achieved in the game and I’m very proud of it.”
Cricket Australia said the new captain would be named on Wednesday and Ponting gave strong backing to Clarke, who stood in for the injured captain in the final Ashes Test and for the one-day series against England that followed.
“He’s done a terrific job in almost every game he’s captained Australia,” said Ponting.
“I totally would endorse Michael Clarke as the next captain.”
Australia went to the World Cup looking for a fourth straight title but returned home after defeat to India in the last eight, their remarkable unbeaten run in the tournament having been ended at 34 matches by Pakistan in the group stage.
Ponting, whose reputation as one of the best batsman the game has ever seen is assured, bucked a poor run of form to hit a defiant century in the quarterfinal defeat to India, increasing his determination to continue playing.
“I proved to myself the other day that I’ve still got what it takes to play a good international innings,” he said.
“Now that I won’t have all the extra responsibility of the captaincy, I think I can turn myself into a better player than I’ve shown in the last six months.”
Cricket Australia chairman Jack Clarke said he looked forward to watching Ponting continue to bat for Australia.
“Ricky Ponting has been an outstanding batsman, one of the best to wear the baggy green,” he said.
“His leadership as captain has been outstanding and I sometimes think his brilliance with the bat has overshadowed his fine work as captain.”
He said he was “reasonably confident” that he would be picked for the tour of Bangladesh.

-Input from Agencies

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Ponting could be dumped as captain: report

Admin — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 16:01:27 +0000

Bangkok Post
Ricky Ponting could be in the final week of his nine-year reign as captain after a troubled build-up to the World Cup, a report said, citing a Cricket Australia official.
The Sydney Morning Herald on Tuesday said there was stiff opposition at boardroom level to the 36-year-old retaining the job for next month’s tour of Bangladesh, although his position as a player was not in jeopardy.
“We need to be looking at the future. It’s time for us to make a change,” the newspaper quoted the official as saying.
Ahead of the World Cup, Ponting earned the dubious distinction of becoming the only Australian skipper to fail to win the Ashes three times, putting him under enormous pressure.
He has also done himself no favours in India, taking a reprimand from the International Cricket Council after smashing a dressing-room TV in a fit of fury after being run out during Australia’s World Cup win over Zimbabwe.
He was also criticised for angrily throwing the ball to the ground after colliding with teammate Steven Smith during their victory over Canada.
Then his sportsmanship was questioned when he failed to walk in Saturday’s defeat to Pakistan.
“We’re waiting for the next thing to blow up,” the official said. “We don’t go a game without there being some issues with him.”
Michael Clarke, who led Australia to an emphatic 6-1 one-day series victory over England to give them a boost after the post-Ashes despondency, is seen as favourite to take his job.
The Australians face India in Thursday’s World Cup quarter-final in Ahmedabad.

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Struggling Aussies face knock-out clash with India

Admin — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 09:36:01 +0000

The Sydney Morning Herald
Australia will fly from Sri Lanka to India facing arguably the most daunting challenge of the cricket World Cup: beating India in a knock-out quarter-final on its own turf.
India’s stuttering victory over the West Indies overnight gave it a second-placed finish in group B, ensuring it would be drawn against a fellow tournament heavyweight in the quarter-finals at Ahmedbad.
The day-night match will be played on Thursday at Ahmedabad’s Sardar Patel Gujarat Stadium.
While Australia will be going into the match on the back of its historic loss to Pakistan – historic because it ended its record unbeaten streak at the tournament at 34 – India’s form is not entirely robust. It lost 9-29 against South Africa to squander a superb start, while its lower-order batting was similarly brittle against the West Indies, losing 7-50.
If Australia, the underdog despite winning the past three World Cups, does beat India it will be arguably on the easier side of the draw and will face either Pakistan or the West Indies for a berth in the final.
In the other quarter-finals, Sri Lanka will host England in Colombo on Saturday while the other two matches will be held in the neutral location of Dhaka in Bangladesh: Pakistan and the West Indies on Wednesday and then New Zealand and South Africa on Friday.
After the four-wicket loss to Pakistan on Saturday night Australia captain Ricky Ponting said it was crucial that the team learn from its blunders and bounce back immediately.
“I don’t think the loss will hurt us at all. I know for a fact the guys haven’t been thinking about the winning streak at all, because it hasn’t been mentioned around our group or our change-rooms or meetings or anything.
“I think the fact that we’ve played a good Pakistan team and we’ve come up short will get all the guys thinking just exactly what they need to be thinking about and the way they need to play to win World Cup games,” Ponting said.
“We found ourselves in some tough situations [against Pakistan] and we weren’t good enough to get out of them. We have to learn from that, and we have to learn from that quickly, because if we play India in Ahmedabad then you can guarantee there’s going to be the same situations are going to pop up again, and we’ll have to handle them a whole lot better than we did [against Pakistan].”
The Australian squad is due to arrive in Ahmedabad just before midnight Australian-time.
QUARTER-FINALS
Wed 23 Mar: Pakistan v West Indies at Dhaka, Bangladesh (match C)
Thu 24 Mar: India v Australia at Ahmedabad, India (match E)
Fri 25 Mar: New Zealand v South Africa at Dhaka, Bangladesh (match F)
Sat 26 Mar: Sri Lanka v England at Colombo, Sri Lanka (match D)
SEMI-FINALS
Tue 29 Mar: Winner D v Winner F at Colombo, Sri Lanka
Wed 30 Mar: Winner C v Winner E at Mohali, India
FINAL
Sat 02 Apr: at Mumbai, India.

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