Ponting stepping down as skipper??

[Turbo]

I would like to say congratulations on his captaining career. He has always been under immense pressure since he took over as captain, although not the case in the last 6-12 months, his batting as captain at number 3 has been superb. congratulations on your captaincy record. Most number of test wins and ODI wins as captain.

Good player, average captain. Will have a great captaincy record that really he only inherited from better past captains. He also had great support from Warne and Lehman.
Not sure on the replacement as Clarke really hasn't shown much recently. Australian test cricket in trouble at the moment in my opinion. The selectors need to have a good look at themselves, their selection policies, and who in domestic cricket could be the future and give them game experience to improve.

[Bigshow82]

Just a thought but with Ponting playing on do you think it hinders the chances of finding a future captain? He is filling a spot that could be used to blood some new talent and future leaders.
Dont get me wrong I think Ponting is a great player but I tend to agree with LM that maybe he should have stepped down completely.

[CoverKing]

Stepped down completely i dont agree with. We see with India, Dravid, Tendulkar and Ganguly all playing in the one side under Dhoni when he first took over. no problems with ponting staying on

[Lightning McQueen]

Stepped down completely i dont agree with. We see with India, Dravid, Tendulkar and Ganguly all playing in the one side under Dhoni when he first took over. no problems with ponting staying on

Only one of them sustained consistency, we have an ageing list and need to blood some youth, Punter's form has slipped considerably in the past two years, the eyes don't seem to working well enough anymore.

[Drop Bear]

Did Andrew Hilditch step down as well? That prick is useless.

[Lightning McQueen]

Did Andrew Hilditch step down as well? That prick is useless.

He's taking over.

[Brodlach]

Did Andrew Hilditch step down as well? That prick is useless.

He's taking over.

Opening the batting and bowling too

[Aerie]

Somewhat related; not sure if anyone saw On The Couch last night, Mick Malthouse said a coach is only as good as the team he has at his disposal. I reckon Ponting's record reflects that somewhat. His winning ratio with a great team was exceptional, with the only major blooper being the loss of the 2005 Ashes in what was an epic series. Since the retirement of Warne, McGrath and Langer it has been not so good - although still competitive. Would Mark Taylor have got better results with the teams that Ponting has had? It's all hypothetical I know.

One thing there is no doubt about IMO, is he is as good as any batsman Australia has had since Bradman and that in itself will put him down as a legend in Australian cricket. It will be a very sad day when he hangs up the boots.

[Jim05]

Time to bring on the Paine. Get him in the side he is a future captain in waiting.
I think smith was captain of South Africa after 7 or 8 tests at a very young age so it is possible.

[Bulls forever]

Time to bring on the Paine. Get him in the side he is a future captain in waiting.
I think smith was captain of South Africa after 7 or 8 tests at a very young age so it is possible.

Big call Jimbo, we haven't even seen him captain Tas on regular basis with Bailey there. I don't disagree, but really don't know enough about him, so sitting on the fence on this one.

[Bulls forever]

Somewhat related; not sure if anyone saw On The Couch last night, Mick Malthouse said a coach is only as good as the team he has at his disposal. I reckon Ponting's record reflects that somewhat. His winning ratio with a great team was exceptional, with the only major blooper being the loss of the 2005 Ashes in what was an epic series. Since the retirement of Warne, McGrath and Langer it has been not so good - although still competitive. Would Mark Taylor have got better results with the teams that Ponting has had? It's all hypothetical I know.

One thing there is no doubt about IMO, is he is as good as any batsman Australia has had since Bradman and that in itself will put him down as a legend in Australian cricket. It will be a very sad day when he hangs up the boots.

Gee Aerie, thought I had posted before when I read this, mirrored my thoughts. Never saw the Don, but if IMO you get better to watch than Punter, then no wonder thousands turned up to grade games to watch the legend, we will never know. What we do know is that Punter has or will leave a huge mark on Test cricket in Aus.

[westozfalcon]

Ricky Ponting ended up choosing the third of two options.

He should have either continued to captain the side (given the lack of a worthy alternative) or retire completely.

Presently, it's his captaincy and leadership that warrants him a place in the team, not his batting form.

[Q.]

Presently, it's his captaincy and leadership that warrants him a place in the team, not his batting form.

Should make it easy to drop him then.

[Gozu]

Ricky Ponting ended up choosing the third of two options.

He should have either continued to captain the side (given the lack of a worthy alternative) or retire completely.

Presently, it's his captaincy and leadership that warrants him a place in the team, not his batting form.

I agree with this, in reality he should've retired altogether. This was just a stop gap measure to take the heat off of him.

[Adelaide Hawk]

Just a thought but with Ponting playing on do you think it hinders the chances of finding a future captain? He is filling a spot that could be used to blood some new talent and future leaders.
Dont get me wrong I think Ponting is a great player but I tend to agree with LM that maybe he should have stepped down completely.

First of all, I have always been of the belief that an Australian cap should only be given to a player if he is in the best 11 available players in Australia. If a young player is good enough he will force his way into the team when he is ready, not before. If Ponting is in the best 11 players in Australia, he should play.

Simon O'Donnell said on radio that having an ex-captain in the team doesn't work, and history tells us that. He was talking of the time Kim Hughes played under Border, and he's right, it didn't work.

However, off the top of my head, I can think of 4 other times since I've followed cricket where it worked well.
1. Richie Benaud retired as captain after the 1st Test v South Africa in 1963-64. He played under Bob Simpson and Australia won the series.
2. Bob Simpson retired as captain and played under Bill Lawry in 1967-68 v India. Australia won 4-0.
3. Ian Chappell retired as captain in 1975-76 and played under Greg Chappell, Australia beat the West Indies 5-1.
4. Greg Chappell quit the captaincy in 1983-84 and played the entire series under Kim Hughes. Australia beat Pakistan 2-0.

[RustyCage]

Just a thought but with Ponting playing on do you think it hinders the chances of finding a future captain? He is filling a spot that could be used to blood some new talent and future leaders.
Dont get me wrong I think Ponting is a great player but I tend to agree with LM that maybe he should have stepped down completely.

First of all, I have always been of the belief that an Australian cap should only be given to a player if he is in the best 11 available players in Australia. If a young player is good enough he will force his way into the team when he is ready, not before. If Ponting is in the best 11 players in Australia, he should play.

Simon O'Donnell said on radio that having an ex-captain in the team doesn't work, and history tells us that. He was talking of the time Kim Hughes played under Border, and he's right, it didn't work.

However, off the top of my head, I can think of 4 other times since I've followed cricket where it worked well.
1. Richie Benaud retired as captain after the 1st Test v South Africa in 1963-64. He played under Bob Simpson and Australia won the series.
2. Bob Simpson retired as captain and played under Bill Lawry in 1967-68 v India. Australia won 4-0.
3. Ian Chappell retired as captain in 1975-76 and played under Greg Chappell, Australia beat the West Indies 5-1.
4. Greg Chappell quit the captaincy in 1983-84 and played the entire series under Kim Hughes. Australia beat Pakistan 2-0.

I think Border and Hughes are very different personalities than Ponting and Clarke are, so I can see this working a lot better.

[OnSong]

Just a thought but with Ponting playing on do you think it hinders the chances of finding a future captain? He is filling a spot that could be used to blood some new talent and future leaders.
Dont get me wrong I think Ponting is a great player but I tend to agree with LM that maybe he should have stepped down completely.

First of all, I have always been of the belief that an Australian cap should only be given to a player if he is in the best 11 available players in Australia. If a young player is good enough he will force his way into the team when he is ready, not before. If Ponting is in the best 11 players in Australia, he should play.

Simon O'Donnell said on radio that having an ex-captain in the team doesn't work, and history tells us that. He was talking of the time Kim Hughes played under Border, and he's right, it didn't work.

However, off the top of my head, I can think of 4 other times since I've followed cricket where it worked well.
1. Richie Benaud retired as captain after the 1st Test v South Africa in 1963-64. He played under Bob Simpson and Australia won the series.
2. Bob Simpson retired as captain and played under Bill Lawry in 1967-68 v India. Australia won 4-0.
3. Ian Chappell retired as captain in 1975-76 and played under Greg Chappell, Australia beat the West Indies 5-1.
4. Greg Chappell quit the captaincy in 1983-84 and played the entire series under Kim Hughes. Australia beat Pakistan 2-0.

5. Richie Benaud retired as commentary team captain before the first test in 2008 and has kept his spot in the team since.