SA Footy

well is he ?



unfortuneately i think he's on the way out, perhaps he better get off the 'swiss' (or however you spell it) as while it lined his pockets his batting & fielding has dropped significantly imho

[quote="bayman"]well is he ?



i would say NO for a few reason and some of the reason are why australian cricket is in a bad way at the minute.

1) he is still in the top couple of batsmen in australia
2) seriously who else could take the job? take it off ponting for bad form and give it to who? there is no 1 else in form to take the job. there was talk of watson hmm big load open the bat, bowling and the capt..... then there is clarke (who i believe will be the next capt) but should he be?? look at his last 2 dismissals todays and the 1 in adel are they shots of a leader? then theres huss i have great respect for him but his 33-34 to old??? haddin aust dont like keepers being skipper but he wouldnt be my pick anyway.
3)if australia was'nt looking at going 2 down this would'nt be a topic on this forum.

He's still our best batsman

We have to be careful who we sacrifice as scapegoats otherwise we'll be in an even worse spot

That's assuming he still wants to go on

It's a difficult situation and this is where the selectors need to earn their money.

Yes, he is probably our best batsman still (although Hussey/Haddin may argue on current form), but he is probably going to captain a 3rd Ashes series defeat and he is not making runs like he once did. He is also 36 and Australian cricket is not working at the moment with him at the helm.

So the selectors either stick by him as captain (I can't see this happening if we get flogged again), keep him as a batsman or drop him from the side completely.

I think there are 3 (maybe 4) people who may be ready to captain Australia after the next Ashes. Those being Clarke, White, Ferguson (maybe Watson). They need to play.

I also think Khawaja needs to play.

Therefore, I would place Haddin as captain up until the next Ashes and bring in Khawaja at the expense of Ponting, possibly as soon as the Boxing Day Test.

Watson
Hussey
Khawaja
Clarke
Ferguson
White
Haddin
..........

This probably won't happen and I hope Australia rolls England tomorrow and Ponting goes on to captain and win back The Ashes, but I can't see it happening.

FWIW Ponting is one of my all time favourites and this is just my head doing the talking without any sentimentality.

Aerie they are good points my only issue is whether we are punishing him for losing the Ashes (would Haddin have won them? same team .... same result most likely) or whether we genuinely think our team is better in the short term if he isn't in it. I hate to see him go as the scapegoat.

As I said, my only question mark is whether he wants to go on as captain or even go on at all. Giving up the captaincy may give him the mental relief he needs to just focus on his batting to close out his career. Despite his faults as captain I think whoever was captain post Warnie and co was going to have a tough time of it given the lack of depth we seem to now have.

Australia doesn't seem to retain past captains in the side. They seem to retire as captain most times. other countries seem happy to rotate the captaincy more and retain the player if he is good enough. Some countries take this to an extreme as we know but maybe there's a happy medium.

Theres a reason why a lot of International cricketers keep playing past thier used by dates
Its called money

In a different era Im sure Ricky would call it quits after this series if his form waned off
IF he plays on its called money

Ricky is averaging about 39 the last 35 odd tests
Thats almost 20 below his average b4 the last 35 Tests

I always say this
It is no disgrace getting older and worser
It happens to all of us
If not the case Bradman would have still played in teams with Warney and Ooh Ahh

He needs to bat down the order. If he wont do that hes got to go. Cant have a number 3 averaging in the 30's(which he does over the last 12months)
He is getting older and just has to accept that he is a fraction off the pace

He needs to bat down the order but unless you can find a ready made number 3 it's hard.

Gun sheffield shield run scorers and performers like Chappelli, Bradman, Ponting all started their test careers batting 6.
To throw Khawaja up there immediately could be shattering for his career.

I think at this stage it might be better and easier to find an opener who can drop Watto or Kat to 3 or bat 3 themelves.

For all the WATTO fans out there, I'd say he's firming as the next Captain of the test team too.

There's no point Ponting going on after this series. He's a shell of the player he was, the hand eye coordination isn't what it was and the fact he's about to turn 36 and we don't play Test cricket for awhile after this (supposedly the Bangladesh tour in April will be scrapped) I think he will be tapped on the shoulder prior to the 5th Test and Sydney will be his farewell. Unfortunately prior to the start of this series I thought this would be his last series but still hoped he'd make a few runs and not look as bad as he has.

If I were a selector I'd tell him this is it for Test cricket and let him bow out altogether at the World Cup.

Ricky ponting is contracted fto about 2012 I believe so I do not see Cricket Australia paying out his contract

I'm pretty sure players are only contracted by CA to one year deals at a time. If true then he comes out of contract on the 30th June.

This could very well be the 1st time since Ian Johnson in 1956/57 that Australia are struggling for a natural successor to the captaincy role.

Lindwall, Craig and Harvey filled in whilst Benaud got the full time role for 6 years until Lawry took over.

This is a very similar situation to when Greg Chappell was about to retire..

Kim HUghes was the vice captain and natural successor.
The rest of the country wanted Rod Marsh to captain.

If half the country don't want Clarke to captain, who is left ????

Watto is the smoky here......

This is how bad a state cricket in australia is at the moment.....with leadership......so many talented youngsters..but..
Clarke is NOT A LEADER.....he has had it VERY easy since his debut, in fact he had ordinary figures before getting selected.

Maybe the HUSS can lead the side for a few tests.??????????????????????