Yeah I don't think so, he was always suspect against quality spin especially in Asia, doubly in India. He was great against pace, probably better than SRT, but played worse against the moving ball.
-
Welcome to the Cricket Web forums, one of the biggest forums in the world dedicated to cricket.
You are currently viewing our boards as a guest which gives you limited access to view most discussions and access our other features. By joining our free community you will have access to post topics, respond to polls, upload content and access many other special features. Registration is fast, simple and absolutely free so please, join the Cricket Web community today!
If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact us.
Weak Ends to A career
- Thread starter Mr Miyagi
- Start date
He had a poor record in India till 2008, when the pitches really became flat - even for Indian standards. Ponting, though had a disastrous fall from peak in part due to him being the captain as well as handling the transition form McWarne era. In terms of skills, probably Kallis was better but wrt mental toughness Ricky is miles ahead. Arguably the hardest cricketer, mentally, from the last decade especially ODIs.
I think if Clarke had taken over the captaincy a bit earlier Ponting could've -
1) retired earlier, or
2) regained some form before retirement
I rate him very highly as well, if it weren't for Ricky we'd have 3 WC & probably 2 series wins in Aus. But I rate his mental strength higher, then comes the batting skills.
Ponting was one of the earliest symptoms of pitch rot in AUS and the start of a long line of home track bullies. He averaged 46 away, which isn't bad, but he had a lot of contemporaries averaging in the mid 50s away- Kallis, Sanga, Waugh, AB, Tendulkar spring to mind. All of these guys either played partly in an era of tougher conditions, did not have to face AUS, or both.
It's not a quirk of the numbers for ponting, it's a symptom of conditions. Clarke, Hussey, Hayden all ended with a career average similar to Ponting, but averaged in the region of 50% more at home than away. Asian bats tend to catch some grief for being home track bullies, but AUS has been at least as bad.
Away average is obviously just one stat, you need runs at home as well, etc. But it's a good equaliser- it's highly likely these guys are flattered by their overall averages because of when and where they played.
It's not a quirk of the numbers for ponting, it's a symptom of conditions. Clarke, Hussey, Hayden all ended with a career average similar to Ponting, but averaged in the region of 50% more at home than away. Asian bats tend to catch some grief for being home track bullies, but AUS has been at least as bad.
Away average is obviously just one stat, you need runs at home as well, etc. But it's a good equaliser- it's highly likely these guys are flattered by their overall averages because of when and where they played.
Inzamam-ul-Haq, Misbah-ul-Haq, JC Adams, Saeed Ahmed, Sarfraz Ahmed, DL Amiss, HM Amla, M Azharuddin, GS Ballance, EJ Barlow, KC Bland, BC Booth, G Boycott, DM Bravo, WA Brown, BF Butcher, SL Campbell, MJ Clarke, HL Collins, AN Cook, RM Cowper, Q de Kock, ER Dexter, BL D'Oliveira, PJL Dujon, F du Plessis, GA Faulkner, JHW Fingleton, G Gambhir, SC Ganguly, AC Gilchrist, DI Gower, CG Greenidge, AW Greig, Mominul Haque, J Hardstaff jnr, RN Harvey, AL Hassett, VS Hazare, EH Hendren, DPMD Jayawardene, AH Jones, DM Jones, AI Kallicharran, Mohsin Khan, UT Khawaja, WM Lawry, DS Lehmann, DR Martyn, AD Mathews, SJ McCabe, RB McCosker, CC McDonald, CP Mead, Shoaib Mohammad, AR Morris, NCL O'Neill, PH Parfitt, KP Pietersen, WH Ponsford, G Pullar, AM Rahane, JF Reid, MH Richardson, LG Rowe, JA Rudolph, JD Ryder, TT Samaraweera, V Sehwag, MJ Slater, GC Smith, RA Smith, JB Stollmeyer, AJ Strauss, MA Taylor, IJL Trott, GM Turner, MP Vaughan, KD Walters, DA Warner, WM Woodfull and FMM Worrell all averaged over 50 at one point (having scored at least 1000 runs).
mr_mister
Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
Marks Taylor's entire second half of his test career stunk
Did nothing for ages until that Ashes century in 97, then did nothing again for ages until the famous 334 in 98. Then did nothing again for the remainder of his career
Averaged under 25 for his final 30 something tests iirc
Did nothing for ages until that Ashes century in 97, then did nothing again for ages until the famous 334 in 98. Then did nothing again for the remainder of his career
Averaged under 25 for his final 30 something tests iirc
the big bambino
International Captain
If you're an Aussie batsman who scores runs at home; ftb. If you're an OS batsmen scoring runs in Aus; legend. Got it.
Maximas
Cricketer Of The Year
Thilan Samawareera, was so miserable on the tour to Australia in 2012/13 that he got dropped for the next lot of Bangladesh home tests, which he wanted to be his send-off series, so the poor guy just retired. Shame too because up to that point he had been building a great legacy (particularly on the SA tour the previous season).
Nah, the view of OS bats being legend for scoring in AUS is dated as well. The pitches are mostly flat for everyone. AUS are a much stronger bowling unit than a batting one, and they know how to bowl to home conditions, so OS bats get credit for that, and OS bats deserve a bit of sympathy in conditions in any country that are alien to them, which AUS is for a lot of countries.
the big bambino
International Captain
Ok. Australian bats on a pitch; flat. OS batsman plays on the same pitch; minefield. Got it.
There is no need to be obtuse. I never implied this and explicitly stated that this was not the case in my last post.
Maximas
Cricketer Of The Year
Um, no just that on Australian pitches you also have to face the Australian attack, can be quite difficult when you come from a place where the ball doesn't bounce much.
Gnske
Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
It's funny because his footwork was just as trash during that India series and he somehow feasted.Gotta be Ponting. He was rubbish for the best part of three and a half years and his average dropped almost 10 points in that time. Not to mention there was this wonderfully embarassing image
TheJediBrah
Request Your Custom Title Now!
I love this logic because it means you can discredit Australian batsmen's records but don't have to acknowledge a corresponding credit for Australian bowlers
smart
the big bambino
International Captain
Except your post at #26 started off mentioning exactly that.
But the pitches are flat mate. Absolute roads apparently. If you can't score runs on them they are simultaneously too difficult ... or something.
TheJediBrah
Request Your Custom Title Now!
Problem with this logic is that we also have to look at in the reverse, and say that Aus bats deserve a lot of sympathy when they have to bat OS since they are so alien to Aus conditions, which we don't want to do.
the big bambino
International Captain
That's about it. I mean the discussion could have mentioned how wonderful our bowling was in those dreaded slave like conditions or how hard it is to come from a hard wicket country and still compete and most often win in variable, spinning or seaming conditions.
But no: Ponting overrated.
But no: Ponting overrated.
TheJediBrah
Request Your Custom Title Now!
We're just mucking around not seriously complaining but it's just interesting how people can manipulate their logic to come to the conclusions they want to