Pontings captaincy

[deeps]

Ricky Ponting has made many incorrect decisions, and perhaps the free ride he has had so far, due to the carry over from the brilliance injected by steve waugh.

The once highly disciplined team in the field, who had an aura of invincibility seems to be dead. Gone are the days when a team fears the Australians.

They are no longer the tight knit unit they once were. The once brilliant fielding side, is now dropping easy catches, and missing run out opportunities. In the past, when australia have not been able to take a wicket to break a partnership, it's been a brilliant catch or run out that has brought them back in the game. Now the easy catches are being dropped, putting the bowlers into further misery.

The once highly strategic field placings are also gone. No longer do they seem to have a set plan to every batsman. Fieldsman are put in random positions, whilst the ball goes through 3rd man time and time again, with no fielder placed there. The englishman certainly weren't complaining.

Then comes the issue of Shane Warne. Champion bowler, 600 test match wickets, greatest leg spinner ever are some of his accolades. He had to stand around scratching his balls whilst trescothick and Vaughan ammased a huge total. Where was warne?

Reports say that he has a tiff with the captain Ricky Ponting. Perhaps this was Ponting's way of getting back at Warne. Which brings us back to the tiff.. What was the reason? Apparently it had to do with the fact that Ponting decided to bowl first, and Warne felt that batting first would have been the wisest thing.

In a team that had just lost their 400 wicket Fast bowler, their main spearhead, Warne was the bowling strength. Ponting should have played to give the biggest advantage to Warne. Yet he made the now seemingly ridicilous decision of bowling first and paid the price.

Ponting hasn't had the same influence on the team that a good captain should have. Steve Waugh had an awesome influence on the side. The team was a picture of confidence and they won match after match, steam rolling whoever was in the way. This current side, led by Ponting, has lost that killer instinct.

Warne, who is well acknowledged for his tactical nous, and is regarded the best captain australia never had. Perhaps his time has come

 

[Shane Warne]

Ricky Ponting has made many incorrect decisions, and perhaps the free ride he has had so far, due to the carry over from the brilliance injected by steve waugh.

The once highly disciplined team in the field, who had an aura of invincibility seems to be dead. Gone are the days when a team fears the Australians.

They are no longer the tight knit unit they once were. The once brilliant fielding side, is now dropping easy catches, and missing run out opportunities. In the past, when australia have not been able to take a wicket to break a partnership, it's been a brilliant catch or run out that has brought them back in the game. Now the easy catches are being dropped, putting the bowlers into further misery.

Yah, but what's odd is at Lords they caught absolutely everything.

 

[deeps]

Yah, but what's odd is at Lords they caught absolutely everything.

what i'm trying to say, is that they are on a rapid downward curve. The intensity is dropping away, something that waugh would never have allowed. He has the killer instinct. He will grind the opposition into the ground, and continue to ground. Cold and calculating he is.

Ponting lacks that fighting killer instinct. That has rubbed off on the team, and they are no longer that brutal killing machine they once were

waugh was also a very strict disclipinarian. The fielding was brilliant. Obviously there is a spill over effect, and that the aussies continued that high standard over. But without the driving force, that fielding intensity drops off. They may have caught most at lords, but the brilliance in the fielding just isn't there.

 

[cricket player]

Easy deeps take it easy

Every day is not your day and every match is not your match to go with it.

Dropping catches

Every body drops catches including those who are good at catching,

Catching is like batting

Either way you are in form or you are not in form.

 

[honestbharani]

I have to point out one thing here. They had a similarly tough tour of India in 2001, when they lost the series from a position where no one thought a result other 3-0 was possible... Their fielding wasn't as good on that fateful day at Eden either, but the intensity never went down. And they were still plucking out the occassional amazing catch or run out in the 3rd test, inspite of tough going in the test match itself. What worries me is that after just one bad day, the Aussies seemed to have just switched off. I still think Ponting becoming the captain wasn't the best step. I never really rated his captaincy too much, but even I was shocked by some of his captaincy decisions during this series. Actually, it might do Australia some good if they lose this Ashes. I think Ponting could be sacked from being skipper and Gilchrist could take his place. It will be good for Australia in the long run, me thinks. And just remember, the last time Australia had the same captain for successive world cups was Border in 87 and 92... So, I wouldn't bet against a new captain for Australia during the 2007 WC.



All that said, Ponting still played one of the better innings by any captain yesterday.

 

[age_master]

the catches will be back, Australia just dont seem to be clicking at the moment, but thats still the first time under Pontings captaincy thats happened, so give them a break

That said i dont think Pontings tactics have been good at all so far and think that there are better options in the side.

 

[honestbharani]

I was not talking about the poor fielding itself, just that the intensity seemed to have gone off, which I have never noticed with an Aussie side since 95... I am telling you, even with that A team bowling attack at Sydney and MacGill dropping catches, they were still pretty intense in the field. That is what worries me about Ponting's captaincy. Leaving the tactical side alone, he doesn't even seem to be able to gee up his side when under pressure, the way Steve Waugh did so many times.

 

[social]

Ive been as critical as anyone of Ponting's captaincy this series but he alone is not to blame.

Warne, Gilchrist and McGrath wield significant influence in regards to strategy and I have a feeling that whatever errors are being made are as much their fault as his.

As far as the ability to inspire is concerned, if the Aus team is not behind him after yesterday's innings they never will be. I have a feeling that that innings, and the draw that it was largely responsible for, will prove to be the pivotal performance of this Ashes series.

 

[Slow Love™]

Ponting's innings last night was one of the great captain's knocks, and he deserves all the praise in the world for somehow hauling us to what looked such an improbable draw. And his batting in this test set a clear example to the rest of the top order that far more concentration (and respect for the bowling) was required.

But the deficiencies of his captaincy have been very obvious this series. He has always shown a lack of confidence in slow bowlers, but generally Warne had been excepted from this. However, this series he has held Warne back at times when it was evident that he should have entered the attack much earlier. He has shown a willingness to over-play bowlers struggling when under attack by the English batting, and has also demonstrated at times a Shaun Pollock-like tendency to not react to the circumstances of a game, and stick to prefab sketches of gameplans that blatantly aren't doing the job. Whereas, previous to this series I had seen him as a captain poor with the bowling but very competent in his field placings, it has felt like he has fallen apart a little with the team being under genuine pressure, and his field-settings have suffered.

I don't see him being replaced anytime soon, and I'm not sure there are many options available, at least until Michael Clarke is completely established in the team and has grown into a real leadership candidate (should this occur). I don't think Gilchrist is particularly interested in the job, nor do I think he is the great saviour on the horizon.

The thing that concerns me most about Ponting's leadership abilities in the field are the constant protestations from experienced players that he is in constant communication with the "leadership group", and that he leans heavily on their shoulders for captaincy advice. While there's nothing intrinsically unhealthy about consulting fellow members of the team, the insistence that they have him covered implies a reliance that suggests that, frequently, he doesn't have a clue. Let's remember, although Ponting is baby-faced, he's 30 years old, and a very experienced cricketer. Would people be making the same proclamations about say, Steve Waugh or Mark Taylor? You'd have to be concerned. The image of Warne consoling a depressed Ponting on the field is also a bit of a worry, and the only Aussie captain I could imagine being in that kind of position in recent times would be, er, Kim Hughes (although it's possible that in his case, nobody would have offered any consolation. )

One thing that Ponting's not really responsible for is the severe lapse in catching skills in recent times, and the ground fielding has definitely suffered as well. For this, surely John Buchanan must be held to account. I guess that he must be talented, but in general, his conduct and what he seems to prioritise has always kinda bothered me, and he seems like a coach that has benefitted from having a world-beating team, rather than the other way around. It always seemed that his relationship with Steve Waugh was fairly strained at times, and it seemed as though they disagreed on a number of issues. Perhaps the power balance has shifted a little since his retirement, I don't know.

 

[marc71178]

Every day is not your day and every match is not your match to go with it.

Steve Waugh's Australia never seemed to have as much of a problem.

I don't remember them ever playing 2 consecutive Tests with a seeming lack of passion.

 

[Dasa]

One thing that Ponting's not really responsible for is the severe lapse in catching skills in recent times, and the ground fielding has definitely suffered as well. For this, surely John Buchanan must be held to account. I guess that he must be talented, but in general, his conduct and what he seems to prioritise has always kinda bothered me, and he seems like a coach that has benefitted from having a world-beating team, rather than the other way around. It always seemed that his relationship with Steve Waugh was fairly strained at times, and it seemed as though they disagreed on a number of issues. Perhaps the power balance has shifted a little since his retirement, I don't know.

Buchanan strikes me as the type of coach who concentrates more on the mental side of things - it seems his attitude is that the technical and physical side will sort itself out.

 

[Barney Rubble]

He played a great captain's knock yesterday, but to be honest I think that knock would still have happened if he wasn't captain - it's just in his character.

Great player, awful captain. No idea how to use his bowlers or set a field for a particular batsman. Look how England have bowled to a plan so well this series - and then look how Australia just bowl Warne all day from one end and hope he gets a wicket, while McGrath bowls long spells at the other with the occasional 4 or 5 overs from one of the others. The least imaginative use of an attack I've seen for a long, long time.

 

[Burpey]

He's absolutely hopeless ... would anyone in the current side do a better job though ?

 

[FaaipDeOiad]

He's absolutely hopeless ... would anyone in the current side do a better job though ?

Warne? Gilchrist?

I don't think Ponting is "hopeless" as a captain, he's shown on a few occasions that he can be quite clever, but tactically he's lacking compared to someone like Warne.

 

[Slow Love™]

Buchanan strikes me as the type of coach who concentrates more on the mental side of things - it seems his attitude is that the technical and physical side will sort itself out.

Well, we're certainly been excelling in that regard.

Surely though, the buck stops at the coach for basic fielding skills. Bob Simpson believed it to be of almost paramount importance - there's no point having the bowlers inducing false shots all over the place if we can't make dismissals out of them.

 

[King_Ponting]

He's absolutely hopeless ... would anyone in the current side do a better job though ?

I hope u were being sarcastic, cause to suggest the guy with the best captaincy record in both tests and one dayers is hopeless. Well........

 

[deeps]

Easy deeps take it easy

Every day is not your day and every match is not your match to go with it.

Dropping catches

Every body drops catches including those who are good at catching,

Catching is like batting

Either way you are in form or you are not in form.

that doesn't explain the loss of the killer instinct. Dropping catches are a byproduct of the lack of intensity

 

[deeps]

I was not talking about the poor fielding itself, just that the intensity seemed to have gone off, which I have never noticed with an Aussie side since 95... I am telling you, even with that A team bowling attack at Sydney and MacGill dropping catches, they were still pretty intense in the field. That is what worries me about Ponting's captaincy. Leaving the tactical side alone, he doesn't even seem to be able to gee up his side when under pressure, the way Steve Waugh did so many times.

my point exactly

 

[deeps]

He played a great captain's knock yesterday, but to be honest I think that knock would still have happened if he wasn't captain - it's just in his character.

definately. I'm not doubting him as a player for one moment.

 

[C_C]

I hope u were being sarcastic, cause to suggest the guy with the best captaincy record in both tests and one dayers is hopeless. Well........

I dont think Ponting is hopeless, but he is rather ordinary.

Oh and win-loss record as a captain means zilch. Clive LLoyd was one of the greatest captains ever in the game and Ritchie Richardson one of the poorest.
Stick Richardson into the invincibles side and Lloyd into current-day Zimbabwe and i dont think anyone would argue that Ritchie would have a record far superior to that of Lloyd.