Ricky Ponting steps down as Captain (Updated)

[vic_orthdox]

I'm with you Rob, I think 'back to basics' was just a soft answer, a bit of fluff to deflect criticism of Ponting. What's Clarke going to say otherwise? We need to bowl our overs quicker? We need to stop tinkering with plans mid-over? We need to set better fields for spin? Any of those things would have been very honest, but he'd have been hammered as a whinger and bitch - he HAD to give a generic answer there.

Exactly, I just rolled my eyes when I heard it. It's the sort of stuff that you can see him being handed by CA's marketing man before the press conference, because the surveys say it's what people want to hear.

 

[GIMH]

Howard, you could attach the word doc to this thread?

 

[honestbharani]

I want to pay tribute to the man. He may be a hairy little chimp-runt but is nonetheless one of the finest players of the game of all time - we are lucky to have seen him play

he is not retiring yet, Z I really think the tributes should be for his captaincy (or lack of it .. juz to spite Burgey )... I still think he has a good couple of years in him as a batsman.

 

[Jono]

Howard, you could attach the word doc to this thread?

I don't know how serious he is about his essay, but if he's even semi-serious he should PDF it so it can't be edited.

Then upload it on the vast amount of file upload websites available and link it in this thread, his signature or whatever.

 

[howardj]

Howard, very much looking forward to your recommendations. I admit my little 'essay' was written as much from the heart as it was from the head and as such contains 'recommendations' which may seem a little far-fetched if not totally s**t.

Have you looked at unified coaching standards at the state level? I understand that each state side is left to their own devices when it comes to concentrating on certain fundamental disciplines.

Speaking totally hypothetically it may be that QLD and NSW have totally different priorities when it comes to coaching basic fielding, batting, running between wickets tactics etc etc.

As a result you may have players coming into the national side that may excel on one of the fundamentals and lack in some of the others. Obviously these players will only receive the most remedial coaching from the national team before they are actually required to play, for example a state player called up during the middle of a series aka Bollinger in The Ashes.

If a unified coaching framework were to be developed that concentrates on the fundamentals it would be a good framework for the individuals states to begin with and ensure that our players have a more uniform skill set.

Again, this was a spur of the moment idea but I believe it warrants consideration.

Absolutely mate. I think there needs to be greater co-ordination on a number of fronts.

Agree with getting back to the basics in coaching too.

Exclusive extract follows:

With younger players, coaches need to be concentrating on the basics, and ensuring that players have a good foundation from which they can then adapt to shorter forms of the game. They shouldn’t be taught how to play the shorter forms of the game first, but rather use their longer form skillsets to adapt to the shorter forms. There’s some concern that this is not currently always the case, and that the shorter forms of the game have become the prism through which coaches are instructing younger players

The coach spends his time instructing selected youngsters in the techniques of the game. Except that those skills seemed to have changed. Coaches chide any batsman allowing a ball to pass, and teach them to use the bottom hand not as an assistant but as the driving force. Youngsters are taught to open their hips and lift the ball. – Source:Peter Roebuck

The point is that once you are armed with the skills to play the longer form of the game, it is then easier to adjust to the shorter forms, than it is for someone who is trying to adapt a shorter form skillset to the longer form of the game. It’s why Ricky Ponting could adapt to T20, but why Dave Warner would struggle to play Test matches.

 

[howardj]

So when am I writing the foreward?

I think it needs an executive summary, rather than a foreward.

She's already hit 5 000 words, and I haven't even got to the CA chapter yet.

 

[GotSpin]

Why can't our coach and selectors **** off like the SL ones when they realised they'd ****ed up

 

[robelinda]

Indeed.....

 

[vcs]

Didn't know where to put this...

Path open for Ricky Ponting in golf | Herald Sun

 

[Spikey]

The Pro Tour Golf Season Is Killing Test Cricket

 

[vcs]

!

 

[GotSpin]

Good to see Deano giving it a crack. I always find that bloke isn't given his fair share in the limelight

 

[Spikey]

dean jones to go to the press when damien martyn takes his spot

 

[centurymaker]

OMG handicap of +1 is pretty damn good. He's almost Pro.

 

[howardj]

Deano would have plenty of time during a round to tell his caddy about his Madras innings

 

[Mike5181]

He could almost think about playing pro if he really wanted to.

 

[benchmark00]

Deano would have plenty of time during a round to tell his caddy about his Madras innings

 

[robelinda]

Would do well to talk to some of our current players about that knock, they need education on playing long innings under pressure.

 

[benchmark00]

Would do well to talk to some of our current players about that knock, they need education on playing long innings under pressure.

I don't know about that, a fair few of them have no problems ****ting themselves on the big stage.

 

[Daemon]

told by nine-time Major winner Gary Player at a course in Spain: "The way you hit the ball, you're wasting your time playing cricket.

**** off. He has plenty of time to play that 'sport' when he's old and unfit anyways. (No offense to golfers, I just ****ing hate golf in general)