Dec 26-30: 4th Test - Australia v England at Melbourne

[formula1man]

Its because he's not done much of note for the whole of his First Class career that would suggest he's likely to succeed at test level. Obviously he looks like he has the raw material that could get him to such level and could thrive ala Trescothick but I'd certainly have alot of reservations over him getting picked ahead of the likes of Hildreth.

no its coz he's Irish

----------

I dont understand why people are backing Ponting. If he were an investment (stock market) Ponting would look like this Stock price charts - Chart Australian Listed Companies shares, warrants, and interest rate securities - ASX

He was good, he is past his time and continuing to persist with him is not going to yield any gains, he might make some runs again in the future but the "money" you have lost in the meantime is not going to be made up by a short period of form, it is over.

 

[aussie1st]

Ponting needs the tap on the shoulder that Waugh got also needs to be relieved of his captaincy ala Lara and Tendulkar. That might be what he needs to achieve his dream of a 2014 Ashes. Definitely need a revamp of the system outside of the players, that could also mean a lot less chances for the old guys that struggle compared to present.

Anyway well played England bowling and batting was awesome and Trott again the pain in the ass with his fielding.

 

[Cricketman]

I'd like to see the captaincy be passed to Brad Haddin for the test side. I think Ponting just needs to be relieved of some responsibility. He can stay in for his batting though - I mean all those years of service has earned him an extended shot in the team. Plus there is no real replacement for him.

 

[Covvy]

I don't see wh ywe should select a youth policy. It's the national team, not the bloody AFL Gazza. Surely we would be able to select a good enough team at any stage to compete with the world.

 

[midgetwars]

Out of, Copeland, Pattinson, George, Starc, Hazlewood who would be the best for the next gen of bowling?

 

[sami ullah khan]

Great effort by England to upstage the Aussies. Australia have paid the price for being too inconsistent. They did not look like the team that beat the English in Perth. England however came out all guns blazing and comprehensively beat a timid Aussie outfit to retain the Ashes. They should now go for the kill and win the series 3-1. I don't know what will become of Ponting if such a scenario indeed occurs.

 

[SaiSrini]

End of Ponting, the captain? I think he should be relieved of it. But I hope he is not sacked as a player. He still deserves to play for Australia

 

[sami ullah khan]

^Yeah with kind of backup they have got atm, Ponting deserves his spot as a batter.

 

[angryangy]

Plus there is no real replacement for him.

It depends. On the short term, anyone could have matched Ponting's runs in this series. Peter Siddle is just 4 runs short.

And in the last two years, a lot of actual batsmen could probably have picked up Ponting's runs at an average of 38. We ditched Marcus North for not being good enough, but in his tenure, he made more hundreds than Ponting.

Sure, there's no replacement for Ponting circa 2002-2006, but if he himself is merely half that player, he's not much of a stand-in either.

But of course, it is possible to carry a player until he rediscovers form. What matters is the team. Players should never be bigger than the team.

Ideally a team has the structure to carry a batsman or even a couple, but with recent selections, this one has lost that. The selectors overlooked in-form replacements for Katich and North. With Ponting and Clarke at the moment, that means more of them are out of form than in form.

It is interesting how supporter pressure has fallen hardest on the senior players, while the neutrals seem to be their strongest advocates. I think it shows that while it is hardest to see the big picture up close, nobody else has to deal with seeing the gory details.

 

[6ry4nj]

Interestingly, in the India-South Africa series, where the UDRS is not being used, there haven't been any head-turning blunders by the umpires. Umps are stepping up in that series, methinks.

Spoke too soon. There have been three extremely questionable decisions in the last 24 hours. It may be a coincidence (the alternative is too horrible to contemplate) but they all favoured India.

The whole idea of umpires 'stepping up' to render UDRS unnecessary is missing the point. Even with umpires as good as is humanly possible, why would they want to increase the possibility of making a wrong decision? It's the umpires who are being handicapped when UDRS is not used.

Then of course there is the issue of corruption. More correct umpiring decisions necessarily means less suspicion attached to the game.

 

[pcfan123]

I fail to find one good reason to be against the UDRS. Asking the umpiring standards to improve as an alternative is just stupidity. There will always be human error.

 

[StinkyBoHoon]

I don't think Australia will signal any intentions on what to do with Ponting until after the world cup, he's clearly the man to lead them in India and I think his position would be weakened by announcing that he should step down as captain afterwards.

he's not been spectacular in ODIs but his one-day form is cause for a lot less concern than his test form.

 

[Themer]

From his interview with Sky last night Ponting sounded a broken man to me, slightly intimated that he was going to have a long hard look at himself over his future after this match. I can smell a retirement coming.

I'm thinking that Colly's going to announce his retirement as well. Why would you try and hang on when you've got the chance to end your career at the highest possible high for an Englishman?

 

[formula1man]

people are saying drop him as captain but keep him as batsmen, but everyones main problem for dropping him was we have no captain replacement. so whats with that?? his batting is the problem, not his captaincy.

 

[Roofrom50]

people are saying drop him as captain but keep him as batsmen, but everyones main problem for dropping him was we have no captain replacement. so whats with that?? his batting is the problem, not his captaincy.

I agree 100%. It's not his captaincy that should be looked at. It should be his batting, it should be the whole Australian top order. Watson is the only player who has held his own here in the Ashes series (i don't class Hussey as being in the top order).
Ponting needs to look at his own batting, and do something about that, before people can go bad mouthing his captaincy.