Are Tendulkar and Ponting done? Is it time to call it a day?

[DriveClub]

Yes.

India actually have a couple of youngsters who are waiting for their chances to replace Sachin but we don't have anyone, Quiney needs to go before Ponting.

 

[centurymaker]

wow 7 times bowled

yes Dravid had been in a slump for a long time, much longer than even Ricky Ponting.

I also feel that Ponting is only playing on to set his Ashes record right. (he's mentioned about really wanting to win in England a number of times). he's both mentally and technically shot against good quick bowlers.
Personally, I think he'll get one or two huge scores against Srilanka and stay in the team for another year.

Meanwhile, Tendulkar has absolutely no reason to continue playing at the age of almost 40. couple more failures and he'll feel compelled to announce his retirement.
His play against spinners has declined markedly over the last few years and on top of that he seems to have forgetten how to construct an innings. You find him playing strange shots too often, so he's mentally lost it too.

All in all, the sooner they retire the better for them and their respective teams.

 

[archie mac]

Ahh but they don't, in 15 years time they will be stat-botting, about how is average is poor compared to the new phenom, it's what us Viv fans have had to put up with for years.

Top post

The same goes for bowlers; I imagine Lillee's average went up towards the end not to mention two years to WSC.

I think more and more stars will have to be given the tap now that there is so much money in the game. Back in the 60s and 70s most Australian batsman would retire at 30 so they could concentrate on their employment careers. Now the longer you hold on the more money you can make. I think this more a consideration for Ponting than Sachin as the latter is loaded!

The tap has come to a number of Aussie batsman in the last few years. Some were just dropped others were given the chance to announce their retirement but still they were basically pushed.

Mark W
Steve W
Boon
Hayden
Langer

Just to name a few

 

[Briony]

Surely it's time that Punter went, it's not just this barren series but the manner of his dismissals. One could argue that there are not a number of ready replacements but surely it's better to have a youngster having a similar input but at least finding out whether he's up to it or not than an ageing warrior tarnishing his legacy.

They put up Punter's figures for his last couple of years and apart from the Indian series his averages are very poor, especially against teams which have decent bowlers. Remember the ton and double ton were on flat surfaces against an attack which was firing blanks. And even then he still didn't look like the Punter of old.

His calendar year might compare favourably to others but only because of the Indian series.

Nobody should have the right to make their own call on retirement when the saga drags on.

Invers said last year after the kiwi Hobart loss that had there been someone else around they would have made the call then.

If they play him indefinitely he will eventually make more runs, particularly against SL but does that solve the Ashes problems surrounding the top order?

 

[Viscount Tom]

If he does go Clarke has to move up the order he's improved a lot as a batsman over the past 2 years his record at #4 is iffy more because he lost form than lack of ability you cannot keep debuting people at #3 against good attacks and expect them to do well from the get go.

It might have worked when Shield cricket was of a really high standard but at the moment it's nowhere near as high as it was say 6-7 years ago.

 

[grecian]

49 average for the last year, still no likely replacements, and brilliant domestic form, still don't see punter going for a while.

 

[Briony]

49 average for the last year, still no likely replacements, and brilliant domestic form, still don't see punter going for a while.

But in his last nine tests against SA and England he's averaged under fifteen. That will be playing on the selectors' minds with the Ashes ahead. Surely Hughes making a ton does put some pressure on him.

 

[Briony]

If he does go Clarke has to move up the order he's improved a lot as a batsman over the past 2 years his record at #4 is iffy more because he lost form than lack of ability you cannot keep debuting people at #3 against good attacks and expect them to do well from the get go.

It might have worked when Shield cricket was of a really high standard but at the moment it's nowhere near as high as it was say 6-7 years ago.

Agree because it's generally depleted but surely that also weakens Punter's case to an extent to. His form in the test arena should become the selection imperative.

 

[Ruckus]

Btw interesting stat:

Ponting's average is now the lowest is has been in over 8 years.

 

[Viscount Tom]

Agree because it's generally depleted but surely that also weakens Punter's case to an extent to. His form in the test arena should become the selection imperative.

Yeah thats an issue as well and for all the international quality of the bowling attack in that match against Victoria there are a few things to consider.

1) It was against Victoria apparently Victoria has too many victorians in its side.

2) They spent about 9 hours trying to bounce him out once he was set.

3) They probably wanted to see the pull shot and that's why they bounced him, everyone knows Saffers have no concept of style when batting (see Smith, Virus, Flag)

 

[Briony]

Yeah thats an issue as well and for all the international quality of the bowling attack in that match against Victoria there are a few things to consider.

1) It was against Victoria apparently Victoria has too many victorians in its side.

2) They spent about 9 hours trying to bounce him out once he was set.

3) They probably wanted to see the pull shot and that's why they bounced him, everyone knows Saffers have no concept of style when batting (see Smith, Virus, Flag)

Who is Flag?

 

[Viscount Tom]

Refering to the lack of style in their Flag so dull.

 

[centurymaker]

Yeah thats an issue as well and for all the international quality of the bowling attack in that match against Victoria there are a few things to consider.

1) It was against Victoria apparently Victoria has too many victorians in its side.

2) They spent about 9 hours trying to bounce him out once he was set.

3) They probably wanted to see the pull shot and that's why they bounced him, everyone knows Saffers have no concept of style when batting (see Smith, Virus, Flag)

thats true. i read somewhere that they'd spent the entire time bowling short balls at him and didn't have a deep square leg to get him caught at the boundary IIRC.

 

[Pup Clarke]

I'm worried about Punter specifically looking at his dismissal yesterday. Nothing ball and he just tentatively hung the bat out.

 

[harsh.ag]

Same was said with respect to Dravid and Laxman. Raina and Yuvraj were alternating for the 6th spot even then undeservingly....

And now that both Dravid and Laxman have been replaced by reasonably good upcoming batsmen, Raina and Yuvraj are still in the team when the likes of Rahane, Badri and even Mukund/Rohit Sharma should be ahead of them like before Pujara/Kohli should have been.


I am not sure Sachin should retire yet, but don't buy this argument tbh.

With respect to the pegging order, I agree that both Yuvraj and Raina should be below Rohit, Badri and Rahane, because they have too many technical shortcomings at present while with the others, it is more of a temperamental/exposure issue, which can only be resolved with more international experience.

 

[Viscount Tom]

Raina's talented, he just doesn't know how to bat on good cricket wickets. Could do with playing grade cricket or something just to get some exposure and build up a technique against prolonged bounce.

 

[Trichromatic]

Btw interesting stat:

Ponting's average is now the lowest is has been in over 8 years.

39 in last 50 tests

 

[Satyanash89]

He should have been dropped back then. He was a liability in the side. I care about winning.

Thank god you're not a selector, because thats just short-sighted BS. If your only aim as a selector is to "win the next match" as you put it, then its a massive fail. You cant just drop proven performers immediately when they have a slump because you know they can turn it around and win you more games once they get back into form.
Guys whove proven their greatness at the highest level deserve to get a gew more chances than merely average players like Ganguly. Dunno why this is hard to grasp.

Now though its a very different picture compared to 2006, coz he's having a number of technical issues, and mentally he looks shot. Would still be silly to completely write off champions like him though... you never, ever know

 

[TumTum]

Yes

 

[ankitj]

The same goes for bowlers; I imagine Lillee's average went up towards the end not to mention two years to WSC.

Not true. I posted this before. Lillee never quite had a peak period like some of his other contemporaries