Ricky Ponting steps down as Captain (Updated)

[outbreak]

Ponting will never hit his best again imo. He still provides enough to warrant a place in the side though and we have other weaker links besides him.

 

[Ausage]

I agree with your overall point, but that doesn't mean you can't admire his knock and the grit it showed IMO.

Great players can't perform in every crunch situation. They're human too, and have frailties like form, injuries, old age etc.

Comments like Ponting's knock today showed that the minute the pressure was on he performed is ridiculous, because he was abysmal in the Ashes and Pakistan.

But at the same time there's something to be like "wow" at his knock yesterday.

Some may argue give a guy enough goes and he will eventually come good. Problem with Ponting is he hasn't been coming good enough for the last 4 years.

Yeah completely AWTA. It was a fantastic knock, and I'm very glad I got to see it (in my living room).

 

[Noble One]

It has annoyed me during the past two to three years that many have stated that Ponting has had no luck when batting (I believe it was even mentioned during the century last night).

Whilst Ponting has had many unusual dismissals in the past few season, you cannot say he has had poor luck. I think he has been dismissed maybe four or five times when tickling a ball that is going down leg-side. That is simply poor batting for chasing such a delivery and not getting the full bat on the ball.

The 'luck' factor always seems a poor excuse to me.

 

[Spark]

AWTA entirely.

Just on the "great players score at important times" line of thinking, Ponting has been letting the team down when we needed him for a while now. How about the Pakistan game? Where was Ponting on boxing day 2010? Hell during our whole Ashes debacle, the only 50 he managed was an absolutely meaningless contribution on a road. How about first innings at the Oval 2009? His been a huge part of the batting collapses that have plagued us for the last couple of years.

That's exactly my point about determination only taking you so far. It's worth noting that yesterday he didn't face his biggest threat - high-quality pace bowling. Zaheer didn't bowl a lot at him and didn't really bowl many testing deliveries at him, and his pace isn't going to worry Ponting.

 

[Top_Cat]

It has annoyed me during the past two to three years that many have stated that Ponting has had no luck when batting (I believe it was even mentioned during the century last night).

Whilst Ponting has had many unusual dismissals in the past few season, you cannot say he has had poor luck. I think he has been dismissed maybe four or five times when tickling a ball that is going down leg-side. That is simply poor batting for chasing such a delivery and not getting the full bat on the ball.

The 'luck' factor always seems a poor excuse to me.

I'm guessing those who say that are talking injuries too. Not many batters have the amount of bad luck Ponting has had all in the same year or so (unless your name is Graeme Smith).

And I personally would say tickling leg-side balls is a portion of both bad luck and bad batting, myself.

 

[Spark]

It is bad luck but he used to be awesome at anything off his hips/pads. Before the last knock he was barely getting bat on ball. It's reminiscent of his overall technical struggles - way too exaggerated a movement across the stumps, even for Ponting.

 

[pup11]

Do all the people who are blasting Ponting realise that the guy has been playing on with numerous injuries for the last 2-3 years and that is something that has obviously hampered his batting ability.

To say Ponting is the reason behind all batting collapses and everything that's gone wrong with Australia team is absolutely ridiculous, he during his peak has won Australia games on his own and now its time for others to stand up and share the load.

Clarke or Watson who are younger players at the peak of their batting prowess have had their moments but they have hardly done enough to lead the batting side of things.

Someone like SRT in recent times has gone into a different league in terms of run-scoring but one of the main reason for that is that his batting workload is very well shared in his team these days, whereas in contrast even at the age of 36 Ponting is still expected to score bulk of the runs for Australia.

 

[Spark]

Who said that he's the reason behind the batting collapses? People were just saying that he's not stood up as the team was collapsing in the past two years often enough - let alone as often as he used to, which aside from a few knocks in India is true. High-quality seam bowling has been our Achilles Heel and this has affected no one more than Ponting. It doesn't make him soft, or poor, but it is a sign that, technically, he is not what he used to be.

 

[Top_Cat]

It is bad luck but he used to be awesome at anything off his hips/pads. Before the last knock he was barely getting bat on ball. It's reminiscent of his overall technical struggles - way too exaggerated a movement across the stumps, even for Ponting.

Used to be such a beast on balls like that, though. Even with the exaggerated movement. It used to be such a honey pot to clueless bowlers, letting them think they could sneak one through the gap, working them through mid-wicket for the next half-hour and, with virtually no risk, be 30+ and in before they had a chance to react.

Wondering whether the hesitancy at balls on the stumps/off his hip relates to his injuries? With a busted elbow/finger on and off for the past couple of years, must be some hesitancy to put said limb in the line of fire at a 156g lump of leather-bound pain coming right at it.

 

[Ausage]

To say Ponting is the reason behind all batting collapses and everything that's gone wrong with Australia team is absolutely ridiculous, he during his peak has won Australia games on his own and now its time for others to stand up and share the load.

Clarke or Watson who are younger players at the peak of their batting prowess have had their moments but they have hardly done enough to lead the batting side of things.

Ponting is not "the reason" behind the batting collapses, but he played a significant part in them. Clarke, Mussey and North have also been culprits, but in every batting collapse that's cost us test matches Ponting has been out for not many, usually looking scratchy and downright poor in the process. He's been leading alright, but not the way we've needed. The Ponting of yesteryear would have stood up even when the team was crumbling around him, which is ironically what he did yesterday. It's just we haven't seen that fighting innings from Ponting in ages.

Watson should be the last of our batsmen coming under scrutiny. Big scores or no he's getting far more runs than anyone else.

 

[Spark]

Used to be such a beast on balls like that, though. Even with the exaggerated movement. It used to be such a honey pot to clueless bowlers, letting them think they could sneak one through the gap, working them through mid-wicket for the next half-hour and, with virtually no risk, be 30+ and in before they had a chance to react.

Yeah that's kind of what I meant

 

[pup11]

Who said that he's the reason behind the batting collapses? People were just saying that he's not stood up as the team was collapsing in the past two years often enough - let alone as often as he used to, which aside from a few knocks in India is true. High-quality seam bowling has been our Achilles Heel and this has affected no one more than Ponting. It doesn't make him soft, or poor, but it is a sign that, technically, he is not what he used to be.

Ponting has never ever been a player who was known to resurrect things at times of a collapse, he bats best when he comes out and attacks and all he then needs is some support from the other end.

The sad thing about it is no Australian batsmen has been either consistent or dominant enough to make Ponting's life a little easier, its worth noticing that Ponting's form has nosedived alarmingly only since the retirements of likes of Hayden, Gilchrist, Langer and start of Hussey's inconsistent form, which is a clear indication that extra pressure has been weighing him down and the injuries and his age have only added to his problems.

 

[Jono]

Do all the people who are blasting Ponting realise that the guy has been playing on with numerous injuries for the last 2-3 years and that is something that has obviously hampered his batting ability.

To say Ponting is the reason behind all batting collapses and everything that's gone wrong with Australia team is absolutely ridiculous, he during his peak has won Australia games on his own and now its time for others to stand up and share the load.

Clarke or Watson who are younger players at the peak of their batting prowess have had their moments but they have hardly done enough to lead the batting side of things.

Someone like SRT in recent times has gone into a different league in terms of run-scoring but one of the main reason for that is that his batting workload is very well shared in his team these days, whereas in contrast even at the age of 36 Ponting is still expected to score bulk of the runs for Australia.

Strawman.

No one said what you're arguing against.

 

[Spark]

Ponting has never ever been a player who was known to resurrect things at times of a collapse, he bats best when he comes out and attacks and all he then needs is some support from the other end.

The sad thing about it is no Australian batsmen has been either consistent or dominant enough to make Ponting's life a little easier, its worth noticing that Ponting's form has nosedived alarmingly only since the retirements of likes of Hayden, Gilchrist, Langer and start of Hussey's inconsistent form, which is a clear indication that extra pressure has been weighing him down and the injuries and his age have only added to his problems.

Which is why I'm saying for him to give up the captaincy.

 

[vcs]

I don't think there can be much doubt that the injury is hampering his play at the moment, he misfields balls that he'd cleanly collect in his sleep, when they're hit to his left.

 

[pup11]

Which is why I'm saying for him to give up the captaincy.

What has captaincy gotta do with this..!? When Ponting goes out to bat people expect him to score big runs and if he doesn't score many then Australia too usually tends to struggle and this is what is putting the extra pressure on him.

Also isn't it bleeding obvious that there is nobody good enough to captain the Australian side atm.

EDIT: Would also like to question that are people really seeing Ponting's decision to not quit captaincy as some act of selfishness..?

From where I look at it, its a very selfless act because no matter who leads Australia in this current phase the results aren't going to change much, so the easiest thing for Ponting would have been to quit captaincy and let someone else face the music, but he didn't do that and he has earned a lot of my respect because of that.

 

[Burgey]

Do all the people who are blasting Ponting realise that the guy has been playing on with numerous injuries for the last 2-3 years and that is something that has obviously hampered his batting ability.

To say Ponting is the reason behind all batting collapses and everything that's gone wrong with Australia team is absolutely ridiculous, he during his peak has won Australia games on his own and now its time for others to stand up and share the load.

Clarke or Watson who are younger players at the peak of their batting prowess have had their moments but they have hardly done enough to lead the batting side of things.

Someone like SRT in recent times has gone into a different league in terms of run-scoring but one of the main reason for that is that his batting workload is very well shared in his team these days, whereas in contrast even at the age of 36 Ponting is still expected to score bulk of the runs for Australia.

Hmm, he's not THE reason, but he's A big reason.

I only say that because, IMHO 1-SFA isn't that big a deal, but 2-SFA usually is.

 

[Burgey]

What has captaincy gotta do with this..!? When Ponting goes out to bat people expect him to score big runs and if he doesn't score many then Australia too usually tends to struggle and this is what is putting the extra pressure on him.

Also isn't it bleeding obvious that there is nobody good enough to captain the Australian side atm.

EDIT: Would also like to question that are people really seeing Ponting's decision to not quit captaincy as some act of selfishness..?

From where I look at it, its a very selfless act because no matter who leads Australia in this current phase the results aren't going to change much, so the easiest thing for Ponting would have been to quit captaincy and let someone else face the music, but he didn't do that and he has earned a lot of my respect because of that.

The captaincy has something to do with it when he is so manifestly not enjoying it. It's a shame to see so great a player not seeming to enjoy his cricket.

Maybe if he ditches the captaincy he can just bat and enjoy himself again. Then again, maybe not.

But I'd like to find out.

 

[Spark]

What has captaincy gotta do with this..!? When Ponting goes out to bat people expect him to score big runs and if he doesn't score many then Australia too usually tends to struggle and this is what is putting the extra pressure on him.

Also isn't it bleeding obvious that there is nobody good enough to captain the Australian side atm.

EDIT: Would also like to question that are people really seeing Ponting's decision to not quit captaincy as some act of selfishness..?

From where I look at it, its a very selfless act because no matter who leads Australia in this current phase the results aren't going to change much, so the easiest thing for Ponting would have been to quit captaincy and let someone else face the music, but he didn't do that and he has earned a lot of my respect because of that.

Don't see it as selfishness at all - just the hallmark of an immensely proud man who desperately wants to give everything he possibly can. Admirable, but is he really doing Australian cricket the most service by hampering his batting like so? As I said in the other thread, it's not like he wouldn't be the de facto leader of the team anyway.

 

[robelinda]

Yep Id like to find out too whether can he just bat without the captaincy and really help the team out.