Goodbye RT Ponting 'the ODI player' - you were a legend.

[_Ed_]

pubically axed.

Sounds painful!

Anyway, one of the best ODI batsmen I've seen. Absolutely dominated bowling attacks at his best (I know that from an awful lot of experience as a NZ fan).

Just checked his record against us, and it's every bit as good as I remember: 1971 runs @ 45.83 from 51 games, including six centuries.

 

[Mike5181]

Definitely one of my favourite players of all time and it's sad to see a guy i grew up watching possibly retire.

 

[slowfinger]

Possibly the best ODI player ever produced, is it fair to say?

 

[silentstriker]

No.


But a tremendous player in all formats nonetheless.

 

[_Ed_]

Possibly the best ODI player ever produced, is it fair to say?

Top five, IMO.

 

[Cruxdude]

Have always hated Ponting with a vengeance and loved watching him fail. Enjoyed his last innings and celebrated when he got his 5th single digit score in a row. But when I now realize his career is over, It feels so very odd. Can never forget his 2003 WC final century. Rushing back home all excited to watch it and ending up seeing him launch one handed sixers into the stands. A champion player who rose to the occasion.

 

[silentstriker]

Top five, IMO.

Including bowlers? Tough call, that.

Within Australian batsmen alone you have Bevan, Dean Jones and possibly (though I would put him behind Ponting) Symonds for company - who were all excellent.

But fair enough.

 

[Teja.]

Around the top 10, I'd say,

Viv, Pollock and Tendulkar the top three without a doubt for me and after that you have the likes of Bevan, Garner, McG, Akram, Murali, Warne etc. So many fantastic ODI players.

Hardly the time or the place for pedantic analysis though.

Champion player.

 

[BeeGee]

This is going to seem like a cheap shot, but I think this is part of the reason India aren't quite as good as they should be.

This.

And ...

Hero worship is for fans; not for players, selectors or administrators.

This.

And ...

Punter is an ATG. Incredible batsman, but his time has come.

 

[ganeshran]

There are strawman arguments being refuted here. I didnt say that Ponting should be allowed to play on despite having poor form. No player should be allowed to carry on once he has outlived his utility to the team.

By better players deserving better treatment, I mean with someone of the stature of Ponting, its basic courtesy to let him make the announcement himself rather than the chief of selectors doing so himself. The other alternative is perfectly fine with someone like Nehra or Mitchell Johnson or Katich.

 

[BeeGee]

Including bowlers? Tough call, that.

How can you compare batsmen and bowlers? There isn't even a basis for comparison. That's like saying which is the better kitchen appliance, the fridge or the stove?

Within Australian batsmen alone you have Bevan, Dean Jones and possibly (though I would put him behind Ponting) Symonds for company - who were all excellent.

Bevan, Jones and Symonds don't even come close to Ponting.

 

[Jarquis]

But Ponting clearly doesn't want to retire else he would have. It's not down to the selectors to tell a player when to retire.

 

[GIMH]

I know that he's mostly known for his pull shot, and then his on-drive and back foot punch through cover point, but he play(ed) one shot that I've never seen anyone pull off with such panache: goes on the front foot, sees it a bit short and wide, moves his weight slightly back so it's slightly on his back foot, sets himself and hammers it through point.

This is a decent example. This is even better. This too.

That 78 Ponting made in that 3rd clip Spark linked was one of Ponting's best knocks I think, given the way everyone struggled up to that point.

Typical stupid English crowd behaviour too, it should be said

I was there that day and there's no competition, it's the best innings I've ever seen live, even beating out Trott's double ton against Sri Lanka last year on a lively Cardiff deck against a top tier attack

But yeah, it was just incredible to watch. Surreal, almost.

 

[Contra]

Have always hated Ponting with a vengeance and loved watching him fail. Enjoyed his last innings and celebrated when he got his 5th single digit score in a row. But when I now realize his career is over, It feels so very odd. Can never forget his 2003 WC final century. Rushing back home all excited to watch it and ending up seeing him launch one handed sixers into the stands. A champion player who rose to the occasion.

This pretty much sums it up for me, have enjoyed his fall over the last few years, but that's more out of respect in way then just for the sake of hating him. Happy in a way that he won't play another ODI, would have been unfortunate if his batting average fell below 42. ATG player. Personally don't see him lasting too long in tests either, the series against India is most likely to be a one off success.

 

[Burgey]

Hearing reports that Ponting would announce his retirement from all forms of international cricket tomorrow and despite being a huge fan I believe that's the best thing for him to do now, he's been a great player no doubt but I admire him for his grit and the pride with which he represented Australia and despite all the great players we have lost over the years he stands apart just for that reason.
Cricket won't be the same for me without seeing Punter in the Australian colours and I'm pretty sure his true value would be understood when he won't be around anymore.

If only he'd shown more intent in those five games, eh?

 

[Burgey]

Including bowlers? Tough call, that.

Within Australian batsmen alone you have Bevan, Dean Jones and possibly (though I would put him behind Ponting) Symonds for company - who were all excellent.

But fair enough.

Ponting is a better OD player than Deano IMO. And about as good in his role as Bevan was in that of the finisher.

All opinion of course.

 

[Burgey]

There are strawman arguments being refuted here. I didnt say that Ponting should be allowed to play on despite having poor form. No player should be allowed to carry on once he has outlived his utility to the team.

By better players deserving better treatment, I mean with someone of the stature of Ponting, its basic courtesy to let him make the announcement himself rather than the chief of selectors doing so himself. The other alternative is perfectly fine with someone like Nehra or Mitchell Johnson or Katich.

Essentially, you've done so much for the game here, you deserve a heads up that you're not in the plans anymore? Is that what you mean?

 

[ganeshran]

Essentially, you've done so much for the game here, you deserve a heads up that you're not in the plans anymore? Is that what you mean?

Exactly, along with allowing the player himself to announce it along with the reasons, If he wants to end speculation regarding the reasons, he should be allowed to do so himself.

Was never advocating for a player to given a place just because of his past exploits.

 

[Andre]

But Ponting clearly doesn't want to retire else he would have. It's not down to the selectors to tell a player when to retire.

In short, no, that's completely wrong.

If a player won't retire it therefore becomes the decision of the selectors. Ponting wasn't going to retire and was quite open he was leaving himself in the hands of the selectors.

He's one of the first born and bred professional cricketers. You'll see a trend of this happening more often - why would you quit your job if you still love it? You wouldn't.

That's why the selectors had to make a call.

 

[Furball]

I doubt the first Ponting heard he wasn't in the squad was when he picked up a newspaper and read that he wasn't in the squad. It would have been discussed with him before the announcement.

At that point, Ponting I'm sure could have elected to retire and save a bit of face publicly. The fact that Ponting has been dropped as opposed to retiring is clearly because Ponting doesn't want to retire and still wants to be considered for selection.

Of course, cue a press conference tomorrow where Ponting announces his retirement.