Indeed it does evidence the decline of Ponting. But it also shows his weaknesses like playing with hard hands against sharp spin etc, which we have seen in India. He is a great player no doubt, and has plundered attacks everywhere, but he had this weakness against spin and that was utilised knowlingly or by chance by Swann.
Purely on current form, yes Clarke pips Pietersen. But for an overseas series, I'd go for Pietersen than Clarke frankly.
Only in India, though. Really was the bounce more than turn which did for him, especially in 2001.
...And not to forget, he has made most of his FC runs on tracks that have loaded in the favor of seam bowlers, Siddle and Hughes are far from finished articles atm, but if anyone suggests that they don't have in them to become good test cricketers, then that is something I strongly disagree with.
Lee's injury has been a blow, but we have dug our own grave by sidelining a quality bowler like Clark, as for Ponting's decline, I think decline is not the right word.
I have to disagree. Sharp spin accompanied by the usual unpredictable bounce of the spin dens of India caused a big problem for him. Mere bounce alone really does not hurt him. If you remember he was out bowled and lbw which indicates spin than bounce.
He is absolutely murderous as regards to pacers. I agree. But barring Lanka, he has been found out in spinning conditions frequently. I wish we had a bigger sample by him playing in Pakistan and Bangladesh. It is not a massive deficiency, since he plays mostly on Aussie wickets.
It is mainly because Kumble/Harbhajan were the only spinners of note from 1998 to 2009.
Oh yes, of course. It is one thing to spot a deficiency and another thing to exploit to one's advantage. Even the armchair analysts like you and me can do the former, but only good bowlers can do the latter.
All Ponting had to do against that ball yesterday was play a simple forward defensive shot with bat close to pad - in all likelihood, the ball would've simply struck the pad outside the line and been followed by oohs and aahs from the fieldsmen
No doubt, sometimes his positivity just gets the better of him. He was trying to score runs off what ideally should have been a dead bat shot. The pseudo drive he attempted meant that not only he was early into the shot, but also left the huge bat pad gap.
Which tour? In '01, it was mostly catches to the in-close fielder, from memory. Dunno if he was bowled even once?
Yup, still furthers that his weakness against spin is only in comparison to his strength against pace, though. He's no Mark Waugh against spin but he's no Robin Smith, either.
As I said, that's just the way he plays, its not a secret that Ponting pushes towards the ball with hard hands, irrespective of the type of bowling he is facing, it has been a big technical glitch in his game right through his career, and it has cost him his wicket a lot of times.social said:
LBW/Bowled accounts for more than 50% of Ponting's dismissals in India. Perhaps except 2001, ironically.
Year Bowled LBW St Caught Run Out
1996 2 - - - -
1998 1 1 - 3 -
2001 - 1 1 3 -
2004 - 1 - 1 -
2008 3 2 - 1 1
TOTAL 6 5 1 8 1While the outside off stump line play is fine on low and slow pitches, it is a dangerous ploy to attempt on a pitch with uneven bounce like Edgbaston. And esp if one does not have a great leg side game against spin.
He was generally caught around the bat, was trying to push at the ball, got pinned on the gloves a lot of times due to the extra bounce and kept on providing catching practice to the short-leg fieldsmen right through that series.
After that 2001 series he really worked on his batting against spin bowling, and improved his technique and footwork quite a lot against them, and tbh if he looks to use his feet against the spinners, then they really don't trouble him much, but when he tries reaching towards the pitch of the ball by lunging towards it, that's when he starts looking really vulnerable against spin.
Surely this AUS team is better than 1985 team & at least on par with Border's 89 team on paper.
Watto who is a far inferior player of spin compared to Ponting, but still he managed to negate Swann pretty comfortably by using that technique.
Watson played majority on the front foot (he has faced just 21 deliveries off Swann)
2009 >>> 1985 imo. But I dunno if you're as old as me mate
TBF a spinner's always a chance out of the rough on days 4 and 5. Look at Hauritz to Flintoff (still very little said about his hitting it to slip and waiting btw).
I guess such yardsticks are there only for guys like Clarke and Ponting...