Ricky Ponting should be sacked

[Spark]

I'm sure I'm repeating myself here, but I think it's only because his runs are still needed he's in a job. If Oz abandoned its (weird, IMHO) reluctance to retain ex-skippers as players I think he'd be gone.

Suppose the corollary question is why the reluctance? No other teams seem to have it.

I can only think that it's because the captaincy is incredibly highly regarded (have heard it called more than once "the second most important job in the country"), and any contention over it is seen as completely unacceptable.

 

[fredfertang]

I'm sure I'm repeating myself here, but I think it's only because his runs are still needed he's in a job. If Oz abandoned its (weird, IMHO) reluctance to retain ex-skippers as players I think he'd be gone.

Suppose the corollary question is why the reluctance? No other teams seem to have it.

Off hand I can't think of a situation where a successful captain has gone back into the ranks and his successor then done well - can anyone think of an example?

 

[BoyBrumby]

Off hand I can't think of a situation where a successful captain has gone back into the ranks and his successor then done well - can anyone think of an example?

Hmm. Suppose successful captains tend to get retained. Can think of a couple of chaps who were maybe harshly deposed and went back to do well in Stewart and Pollock, but neither was a really first rate captain.

EDIT: Fleming, perhaps? Seem to recall he managed to drag his average back above 40 once he returned to the ranks.

 

[Pothas]

Depends what you mean by successful I suppose, long serving captains like Atherton did will post captaincy not that England were succesfull under him but that was more because the team was just ****.

Jayawardene a recent example of someone who did a pretty good job and gave it up.

Australia have a very different model though, and when you look at results achieved I am not going to criticize it too readily.

 

[Jono]

I really wish the Australian cricketing culture would move past the idea of once you drop a captain, they can't play on.

Sure you don't need an Indian/Pakistani scenario where you churn through captains, but there are plenty of examples in life where a leader steps down, or is removed, and must play/work under a new leader. It is not a foreign concept at all, and is far from disastrous.

 

[Shri]

Ganguly did fairly well when he returned to the side after being stripped of his captaincy. Became a very good, reliable test bat.

 

[Spark]

If KP can do it, then so can he.

 

[Pothas]

KP was in charge for about 15 minutes though....

Has yet to get back to that level yet anyway.

 

[Spark]

KP was in charge for about 15 minutes though....

Has yet to get back to that level yet anyway.

Yeah but he hasn't had a destabilising effect on the team or Strauss, has he? I think that's the main concern.

1000 posts!

 

[SirBloody Idiot]

Reckon there's more chance of Clarkey becoming full forward for the Dogs than there being a change in t...

Hang on.

 

[vcs]

In the bigger picture, it wasn't such a disastrous result for Australia. Technically, an away drawn series and they get to retain whatever cup Australia and Pakistan play for (is there any such trophy?).

Sure, the decision to bat first will be criticized... but you can't always get them right and they should have batted better.

 

[social]

Thoughts, anyone?

Way past his sell-by date as a captain IMHO and reckon it's only the strange quirk the Aussies have about not playing ex-captains that keeps him in the gig.

The last Oz captain to be in this situation was Bill Lawry in 1970 so I see it as more of an unusual situation than a quirk

Waugh, Taylor, Border and Greg Chappell all retired after long and successful careers and had no reason to play on

Kim Hughes "stepped down" and was dropped after a few more tests because he couldnt buy a run

Ian Chappell played his last test nearly 6 years after stepping down from the captaincy

I'd be surprised if the core group of current Oz players or selectors felt that they'd be uncomfortable with Ponting remaining in the team as "just" a player (as happened with Lawry apparently) so the real question is whether his ego could handle it

 

[social]

In the bigger picture, it wasn't such a disastrous result for Australia. Technically, an away drawn series and they get to retain whatever cup Australia and Pakistan play for (is there any such trophy?).

Sure, the decision to bat first will be criticized... but you can't always get them right and they should have batted better.

They were playing against a team with arguably a worse batting lineup than Bangladesh and most of the bowlers were toothless - IT WAS BAD

 

[Uppercut]

Didn't watch this series (don't watch cricket involving Pakistan anymore) but I thought he's captaincy has notably improved. Sounds like he made a dud call at the toss this match, you wonder if he would have done so if he didn't still get so much stick about his insertion of the Poms in 05, but really it was a good toss for Butt to lose, and it sounds like Johnson being a complete basketcase when in England was more of the team's problem than Ricky.

I watched the whole match, pretty much, and personally felt his captaincy was absolutely dire in this game. Bad field placings and poor bowling choices. In particular, he stuck with Hilfenhaus and Johnson for an hour and a half on the second morning when they were bowling absolute drivel when Watto had bowled a particular dangerous spell of 2/12 the night before. And, as has become standard, he always went on the defensive far too soon for no good reason.

Isn't half the batsman he was either. If Australia can't get over themselves and retain an ex-captain then it's not even clear-cut whether his sub-standard captaincy is worth retaining purely for the extra runs he scores at number 3. He's only a 40-averaging man these days.

 

[Oscillatingmind]

Eh Australia lost by three wickets, whole team played crap, batsman gave nothing for the bowlers in the first innings, bowlers didn't adjust to the conditions, I didn't manage to watch all of the game so I didn't get a Idea of his field settings but in the past few games his persistence with Watson and North in the attack was a good move, but you'd have to imagine 9/10 Australia would have gone on to score at the least 150+ and Pakistan would have in turn lost, There a great bowling side but still only won by three wickets in the end.
I'm more worried about his form over the past three years, hate slowly watching his average waddle to 50 from its once brief and beautiful 59

 

[Jono]

It actually hit 60 at one stage.

 

[vcs]

I suppose this is not the best time to remind everyone that he just made it to 12K Test runs.

 

[Black_Warrior]

Australian fans calling for Ponting's head dont realize how close they were to winning this test match even after scoring 88 in the first innings.

 

[Oscillatingmind]

It actually hit 60 at one stage.

It'll hit 50 if he plays the 2013 ashes

 

[Jono]

Yeah I've been saying this for a while. Players like Ponting, who are quite reliant on their eye, are obviously going to be more hit and miss as they age.

Last 4 years have not been the best for Ponting, in all forms.