Ricky Ponting should be sacked

[Faisal1985]

Still he is the guy if you want the Ashes back....he has been there, done that...you need his presence against this English side....

 

[Spark]

Still he is the guy if you want the Ashes back....he has been there, done that...you need his presence against this English side....

Against this English side his "been there done that" is to lose...

 

[Faisal1985]

Against this English side his "been there done that" is to lose...

Well...i meant to say it a bit differently...but i guess you are right he has lost to this English side a couple of times but still over all has loads of experience....the notion that Clarke is any better is funny to me.....for the lack of a better captain from the current Aussie side i think Ponting is still the best person to lead...

 

[Jezroy]

I actually think Ponting should be back, crack, and sacked.

 

[Spark]

Well...i meant to say it a bit differently...but i guess you are right he has lost to this English side a couple of times but still over all has loads of experience....the notion that Clarke is any better is funny to me.....for the lack of a better captain from the current Aussie side i think Ponting is still the best person to lead...

I'm not disagreeing with you when you say he shouldn't captain the Ashes and I do think both his experience and his skills as a leader are still of immense value of this team. However Clarke isn't exactly bad either, he clearly has the respect of the players and his captaincy in what he's done thus far has been solid. And we really need Clarke to step up soon as he is the only player we have with good test match experience who isn't going to retire soon (wonderful how that's worked out )

 

[honestbharani]

TBH, I'm not sure Sachin's change in approach coincided with his improvement in form. He's been playing his new relatively circumspect game pretty much from 2004-05 (playing spinners from the crease, paddle-sweep, rarely drives fast bowlers on the rise etc.) but the difference is he's much more solid since WC 2007. Before, he'd look very tentative, go into a shell and get out (see dismissals against Afridi, Panesar, Anderson, Udal etc.) now he rarely looks like getting out once he gets set. It took a wonder-ball from Malinga to get him out even in the last innings. I really like the balance in his batting these days, doesn't fall over and look like an LBW candidate even though he gets lots of runs on the onside. I think his change in approach came as a result of the tennis elbow and back injuries and the results started coming when he regained confidence in his fitness.

Thing about Sachin is, he was NEVER really as aggressive a player in tests as he was in ODIs or as, say, a Lara or Ponting was in tests... He had his matches and innings where he would be very aggressive but they all seemed to be calculated and in the very next dig, you would see him slow down and bat rather circumspectly. It became exaggerated since 2001 AFAIC, when he knew that there were others around him who would bat for a while too and run making was not getting affected... The advent of Sehwag to the top also freed him to play this way, I reckon. The problem was with age, you are never going to be on top all the time and there was always the odd ball that was gonna get you out.


I think since about 2008 tour to Australia, he seems to have found the happy balance again.. He knows he is not gonna hold up if he keeps blocking everything and the best way to survive is by being positive (not aggressive as a Lara or Ponting used to be, coz still think Sach has a better technique than them for surivival) and getting the close in fielders out of the way as much as possible. That way, even when you do get the inevitable nick or false shot, there is no fielder around to catch it...


Truth be told, the Sachin of post 2007 for me is a much closer to the perfect modern test batsman than what he was earlier. Without wanting to open that can of worms (and I would appreciate if you guys would juz let me have my opinion on this without bringing up the debate again), I felt Lara was clearly (not easily, it was a close but clear margin in my eyes) the better test batter before that but the Sachin if post 2007 for me is every bit as good as Lara, only thing being how Lara always got his 200s and 150s and Sachin doesn't..

 

[Spark]

Hesitant about bringing this up, but I rate the 2005-6-7 Ponting as the best batsmanship I have ever seen. Damn near impossible to get out, gritty to the end, but consistently hammered the opposition, putting them out of the game in a session. And then did it again. And again.

 

[honestbharani]

Hesitant about bringing this up, but I rate the 2005-6-7 Ponting as the best batsmanship I have ever seen. Damn near impossible to get out, gritty to the end, but consistently hammered the opposition, putting them out of the game in a session. And then did it again. And again.

oh.. I agree with that. Him and Hayden seemed to be Gods back then... Conditions and bowler standards notwithstanding, they were awesome and just about the most invincible I have ever seen any batsmen be..

 

[Top_Cat]

TBH, I'm not sure Sachin's change in approach coincided with his improvement in form. He's been playing his new relatively circumspect game pretty much from 2004-05 (playing spinners from the crease, paddle-sweep, rarely drives fast bowlers on the rise etc.) but the difference is he's much more solid since WC 2007. Before, he'd look very tentative, go into a shell and get out (see dismissals against Afridi, Panesar, Anderson, Udal etc.) now he rarely looks like getting out once he gets set. It took a wonder-ball from Malinga to get him out even in the last innings. I really like the balance in his batting these days, doesn't fall over and look like an LBW candidate even though he gets lots of runs on the onside. I think his change in approach came as a result of the tennis elbow and back injuries and the results started coming when he regained confidence in his fitness.

Well, who knows the exact timeline of stuff like that but I'd guess his elbow injury was around the 2004-05 mark? Would have impacted on his results, especially using a big tree like he does.

 

[vcs]

Yeah, Ponting was incredible in those seasons. His performances against SA were the stand-outs for me, made some excellent pace attacks look very ordinary.

 

[vcs]

Well, who knows the exact timeline of stuff like that but I'd guess his elbow injury was around the 2004-05 mark? Would have impacted on his results, especially using a big tree like he does.

Yes, though there were reportedly some signs of it even as early as WC 2003 where he had a great tournament. He missed quite a lot of cricket between 2004-06.

 

[Uppercut]

Lots of dead sub-continent pitches would be the reason behind Sri Lanka and India having so many batsmen up there.

Sri Lankan pitches though. They're only flat when Sri Lankans are batting on them.

 

[honestbharani]

Sri Lankan pitches though. They're only flat when Sri Lankans are batting on them.

Could say the same for India.. seeing we did win the matches we scored heavily in..

 

[Prince EWS]

Batsmen doing well in conditions they're used to? Surely not. Must be roads; all of them.

 

[Jono]

Love Prince and Uppercut. Actually understand cricket and the beauty of foreign conditions.

 

[honestbharani]

Love Prince and Uppercut. Actually understand cricket and the beauty of foreign conditions.

lol.. but seriously Jono, do you think there is any real reason why our batters don't do well in SL and their batters don't do well here?

 

[vcs]

I didn't think our batting was that bad in the first game.. I mean Gambhir had a bad game, perhaps Yuvraj below par.. the rest chipped in, didn't they? Even the tail showed some guts. I think we let them get about 100-150 runs too many and after following on, left ourselves too much to do to save the game.

Last series we were definitely bad though. Murali and Mendis ran through us at will.

 

[honestbharani]

I didn't think our batting was that bad in the first game.. I mean Gambhir had a bad game, perhaps Yuvraj below par.. the rest chipped in, didn't they? Even the tail showed some guts. I think we let them get about 100-150 runs too many and after following on, left ourselves too much to do to save the game.

Last series we were definitely bad though. Murali and Mendis ran through us at will.

On that track??? Yes, we were bad.

 

[vic_orthdox]

Still don't think that Ponting should be sacked.

I can see legitimate purpose for him to be put down the order, to number five, but I wouldn't do that now. I think that this batting order will best serve us for the tour of India - I think that Watson's best chance of making runs in India is opening when he is in by the time that the spinners come on, and I think Ponting is of a similar nature.

 

[Prince EWS]

I can see legitimate purpose for him to be put down the order, to number five, but I wouldn't do that now. I think that this batting order will best serve us for the tour of India - I think that Watson's best chance of making runs in India is opening when he is in by the time that the spinners come on, and I think Ponting is of a similar nature.

Hmm yeah that's a good point. Who bats six though? I'm really not too keen on any of the options, really. Can we talk Hodge into coming out of retirement?