Australian media criticises the national team’s performance at Perth – Cricket News Update
After Australia’s 309-run defeat against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Ricardo-Gouveia-c84824 Ponting’s retirement.
Setting a massive target of 632 in the second innings, South Africa crushed the home team at a total of 322 on the fourth day to retain the top spot on the Test rankings.
"Perth was a monumental failure at a critical moment and a timely reminder that Michael Clarke's side is number three -- better on a good day and worse on a bad one like this," said Peter Lalor, the cricket writer at The Australian Newspaper.
"Champions contemptuously put the Australians in their place. Never was the gap between one and three writ more large than in this game," he further added.
The Sydney Morning Herald published, "Proteas use momentum to absolute advantage." It also criticised the Australian team over the missed opportunity to come on the top of the Test rankings, and reflected over veteran Ponting’s last game, where he could
only have 12 runs to his name.
"For the ambitious http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Clarke-c51120, though, the whole debacle will be viewed as a missed opportunity to crown his captaincy with a return to the top of the Test charts," it read.
With the continuous criticism over their performance in the series, a few good words were put in for the legendary Ponting, despite his below par display in the competition. Averaging 51.85 in Tests, the paper said that the Punter’s decision to retire was
well-timed, unlike his final shot.
Sydney's Daily Telegraph talked about the failures of the top-order, and tagged it as bad news ahead of the Ashes encounter, scheduled for next year.
The Herald also published an entire column on Ponting, the former captain, with much emphasis over the Australian side’s strategy to replace him.
Malcolm Conn, a writer with Sydney’s Daily Telegraph, also wrote about Ponting. He feels that the 37-year-old would have had a much shorter career had his successors been more capable.
The player retired after a wonderful Test career, having 41 centuries under his belt. Finding a suitable replacement for such a legend will surely be challenging for the Australians.
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