Chappell reckons Ponting should be suspended from playing
Former Australian captain Ian Chappell reckoned that the distressed Aussie captain Ricky Ponting got off lightly for his referral row with the umpires yesterday.
The 36 year old captain escaped a charge under Level Two breach of the International Cricket Council (ICC) Code of Conduct. Instead, the ICC match referee Ranjan Madugalle charged Ponting with a Level One offence that meant he was fined 40 percent of his
match fee (approximately AUD 5,400).
Ponting was involved in an eight-minute argument with the on-field umpire Aleem Dar and the square-leg umpire Tony Hill. The second day of the fourth Test match was once again dominated by England, after an embarrassing first innings on the Boxing Day and
the captain lost his cool as Dar rejected an appeal against England’s batsman Kevin Pietersen at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG).
Chappell told BBC in an interview that if he was the one “adjudicating,” he would have slammed Ponting with a suspension as the ICC needs to get tough about these sort of things.
He also termed Ponting’s angry rant as “ridiculous” but he dismissed the British and Australian media’s criticism that the captain is finally succumbing to pressure of leading a failing Australian team.
Ponting seemed flabbergasted when Pakistani umpire Dar rejected Australian wicketkeeper Brad Haddin’s appeal who seemingly thought that Pietersen had edged behind off the ball of Peter Siddle. Haddin convinced Ponting and he asked for a referral. However,
the decision was upheld by the TV umpire, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Marais-Erasmus-c74368. Even after the television footage and replays showed that the decision was accurate, Ponting was not convinced as he was seen jabbing his finger towards Dar’s direction and continuing to debate with
Hill who had to intervene.
“I’m not sure it’s a sign of cracking,” Chappell conceded. “it’s just a bad habit that Ricky has, that he likes to argue judgement calls with umpire and, as I say, it should have been stopped long ago.”
Chappell does make a point as Ponting has been fined four times in four years for various offences of the breach of the code of conduct by the ICC.
Ponting’s outburst has garnered a lot of criticism from the media and former players including the former English batsman Mike Gatting who regarded the captain’s protest as completely unacceptable.
Gatting who himself was involved in a finger-wagging confrontation with another Pakistani umpire http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Shakoor-Rana-c89573 back in 1987 said that the captain should not have “gone and questioned the umpire again.” He labelled Ponting’s action as his frustration over
his faltering form in this Ashes coupled by his broken finger injury.
Chappell also questioned Ponting’s ability to lead the side but sympathised with the plight of selectors that there is no short-term replacement for the skipper given vice-captain’s Michael Clarke’s form.
However, Ponting himself apologised before walking out the ground of the third day of the fourth Test match saying that he obviously “overstepped the mark.”
He said that as a captain of a senior or a junior side, he should not have reacted the way he did.
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