Quote:
Originally Posted by LongHopCassidy
Ponting will play until he's dropped. He's fairly experienced in the pride-swallowing game as the first Australian captain to play on after being dumped in decades; anyone willing to wear that emasculation wouldn't be inclined to give a **** about retiring gracefully.
If allowed to play on his terms (and grecian's Quiney point nails it) he won't retire till the end of the next Australian summer. My theory is he has a haunting chip on his shoulder re: that little urn.
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If that's true, that's garbage from him. He deserves to fail if his motivation to continue is a dream of getting back the Ashes for personal glory. He's got to understand it's not about him anymore, and it hasn't been for some time. He's no longer the captain, or the best batsman in the side. It's Clarke's team now and his role in the side has to be as a team man alone. But tbf to Ponting, I'm not sure if that is the main reason he wants to continue on. I genuinely think he would want to win as many matches for the team as possible and see it rise back to the top of the rankings.
On Ponting, does anyone know if there has been a worse form slump at the back-end of a career for an ATG batsman than him? It's been quite an astoundingly protracted slump - averaged 38.77 in 2009, 36.95 in 2010 and 31.92 in 2001, and 2012 (aside from the India series) looks like it's only heading downwards as well.