Ricky Ponting calls Lara selfish

[bennyr]

At the risk of starting yet another "Slag off the Aussies" festival:

Lara's Record Selfish: Ponting

My opinion is that Ponting should keep his trap shut. While it's true that Lara's record came at the cost of a good chance of winning the match, The best thing for West Indies cricket to be achieved out of that match was to avoid a series defeat and restore some pride in West Indies cricket. Brian Lara achieved this and then some.

Ricky Ponting should realise that whilst this is not the current Australian style of play, it isn't neccessarily selfish or wrong.

 

[Eclipse]

No he did nothing wrong since when has stating an opinion been souch a crime. I do it every day.

Wether he is right or not I wont make a judgment on that one.

If he is asked to make a comment then he will big deal.

 

[Lions81]

At the risk of starting yet another "Slag off the Aussies" festival:

Lara's Record Selfish: Ponting

My opinion is that Ponting should keep his trap shut. While it's true that Lara's record came at the cost of a good chance of winning the match, The best thing for West Indies cricket to be achieved out of that match was to avoid a series defeat and restore some pride in West Indies cricket. Brian Lara achieved this and then some.

Ricky Ponting should realise that whilst this is not the current Australian style of play, it isn't neccessarily selfish or wrong.

He cites the Hayden 380 example as an "exception" to that team-first Australian rule. Well I guess Australians take advantage of undermanned, infeior competition playing far away from home, whereas at least Lara destroyed a full-strength English attack which had been bowling his team out for two figures in the past three tests.

 

[Lions81]

No he did nothing wrong since when has stating an opinion been souch a crime. I do it every day.

Wether he is right or not I wont make a judgment on that one.

If he is asked to make a comment then he will big deal.

He didn't do anything wrong, no one's saying arrest him. The point of the thread is to mock him for saying something dumb.

 

[hellnback]

Well quite frankly I'm sleeping better at night now I the knowledge that the record has been scored against creditable opposition.

It really makes me cringe to think what quality players of the past (do I have to mention ANY names???) would have done against the likes of Bangladesh & the current Zimbabwe (which BTW if thing are going the way they are, should lose Test status IMO).

It'll give me nightmares when the likes of Kenya and some others get Test status also.

 

[Eclipse]

He didn't do anything wrong, no one's saying arrest him. The point of the thread is to mock him for saying something dumb.

Thats bull he spoke his mind and anyone can see that.

I cant think of any reason to call what he said dumb it's certainly not going to hurt anyone.

 

[Adamc]

I find it strange that Ponting excuses Hayden's 380 as an 'exception' whereas Lara's 400* is given no such concession. In any case, a world record will do infinitely more for the West Indies' morale than a consolation win in a dead rubber.

 

[Eclipse]

I find it strange that Ponting excuses Hayden's 380 as an 'exception' whereas Lara's 400* is given no such concession. In any case, a world record will do infinitely more for the West Indies' morale than a consolation win in a dead rubber.

Well Australia were scoring at like 5.6 an over so barring the threat of rain hayden would probably have had time to rack up 450* without jepodising Australia's chance of victory to much.

 

[bennyr]

I find it strange that Ponting excuses Hayden's 380 as an 'exception' whereas Lara's 400* is given no such concession. In any case, a world record will do infinitely more for the West Indies' morale than a consolation win in a dead rubber.

Excuses?

I wouldn't call it 'excuses'. Australia declared with two hours to go on day two. Hayden's 380 is perfectly compatible with Ponting's stated Australian policy. I think the exception comes out of the fact that it is "exceptional" when a player can score 376 in five sessions.

 

[bennyr]

Thats bull he spoke his mind and anyone can see that.

I cant think of any reason to call what he said dumb it's certainly not going to hurt anyone.

OK, he spoke his mind.

Sometimes it's better to keep your mouth shut, and when one of the best batsmen in the world has just beaten a record made by one of your teammates against inferior opposition, I think this is the case.

I reckon it was a dumb thing to say because it opens him up to criticisms of sour grapes (although I don't beleive this is the case).

 

[hellnback]

I think the exception comes out of the fact that it is "exceptional" when a player can score 376 in five sessions.

Yeah that "exceptional" player got a triple-ton against a bowling attack Danny Morrison or Courtney Walsh could get a ton against. Cripes even Chandrasekhar coulda got 50!

 

[Lions81]

Yeah that "exceptional" player got a triple-ton against a bowling attack Danny Morrison or Courtney Walsh could get a ton against. Cripes even Chandrasekhar coulda got 50!

I agree completely.

Except Raymond Price has a better average than Daniel Vettori!

 

[Adamc]

Excuses?

I wouldn't call it 'excuses'. Australia declared with two hours to go on day two. Hayden's 380 is perfectly compatible with Ponting's stated Australian policy. I think the exception comes out of the fact that it is "exceptional" when a player can score 376 in five sessions.

"Ponting said then captain Steve Waugh's decision to let Hayden keep batting, in an effort to break Lara's previous world record of 375, was the exception to the team rule.

"It was a very rare thing what we did with that Zimbabwean Test match, for Matty to be able to bat for as long as he did and go on and make that big score," said Ponting."

That is what I was referring to.

 

[Deja moo]

maybe Ponting should also have acknowledged the fact that Lara scored his runs against more creditable opposition than Hayden did.

 

[Eclipse]

maybe Ponting should also have acknowledged the fact that Lara scored his runs against more creditable opposition than Hayden did.

why?? It's not like he was saying Lara's innings was not as good as Haydens or anything.

Infact he never once mentioned the quality of the innings. It would have been compleatly off topic for him to do so.

 

[Deja moo]

I think that the importance of laras knock should be viewed in the context of the series.

WI were 3-0 down to England,and a 3-1 scoreline wouldnt seem much better when looked back at a decade from now.

but having hit 400, this series will probably be remembered more for that knock than for the fact that England won it.
So,from the viewpoint of salvaging pride, this knock will probably be considered more important than a Windies win.

but then again, a part of me does say that a win wouldve been nice

 

[Lions81]

I think that the importance of laras knock should be viewed in the context of the series.

WI were 3-0 down to England,and a 3-1 scoreline wouldnt seem much better when looked back at a decade from now.

but having hit 400, this series will probably be remembered more for that knock than for the fact that England won it.
So,from the viewpoint of salvaging pride, this knock will probably be considered more important than a Windies win.

but then again, a part of me does say that a win wouldve been nice

He did the absolute right thing for the fans. The 400 is much bigger than the win. So now when an English fan points out the lopside 3-0 tally, the West Indian fan can reply, "Lara. 400. Enough said." 3-1 wouldn't have made any difference really, and then with what would the West Indian fan retort?

 

[luckyeddie]

There has been so much nonsense spoken about Lara's 400 and whether it jeopardised a possible winning position that I see no valid reason for Ricky Ponting not being allowed to add his own nonsense too.

At the end of the day, much has been made of the fact that the West Indies did not have sufficient time to bowl out England twice. To which I can only reply 'Poppycock'.
The West Indies utilised 7 sessions in amassing 750-odd, leaving England with 8 sessions to avoid being bowled out twice.

Once the decision was made to bat beyond tea on the second day, it was inevitable that the home side would have to bat once only if they were to have any chance of victory. Furthermore, the total had to be massive, so daunting that just looking at the follow-on total in excess of 500 was worth a couple of wickets.

If the declaration had come earlier, England might well have been not so mentally and physically drained from spending 14 or 15 hours in the field, consequently it is highly unlikely they would have subsided as they did in the first innings - in fact, they might well have saved the follow-on and killed the game before the end of day 4.

 

[Lions81]

There has been so much nonsense spoken about Lara's 400 and whether it jeopardised a possible winning position that I see no valid reason for Ricky Ponting not being allowed to add his own nonsense too.

At the end of the day, much has been made of the fact that the West Indies did not have sufficient time to bowl out England twice. To which I can only reply 'Poppycock'.
The West Indies utilised 7 sessions in amassing 750-odd, leaving England with 8 sessions to avoid being bowled out twice.

Once the decision was made to bat beyond tea on the second day, it was inevitable that the home side would have to bat once only if they were to have any chance of victory. Furthermore, the total had to be massive, so daunting that just looking at the follow-on total in excess of 500 was worth a couple of wickets.

If the declaration had come earlier, England might well have been not so mentally and physically drained from spending 14 or 15 hours in the field, consequently it is highly unlikely they would have subsided as they did in the first innings - in fact, they might well have saved the follow-on and killed the game before the end of day 4.

So what you're saying is Lara had such little belief in his bowlers and team that he decided, "Well we're not gonna win, so I may as well keep batting until I get to 400." Good attitude to take by a captain.

 

[shaka]

is there really a need to declare when he is so close to getting the record when the outcome of the game would not affect the outcome of the series. So i feel that he was right to go for the 400. Opposition doesnt matter because people will only remember the score he got. 4-0 or 3-1 doesnt make a great difference in the icc test championships