Geoff Lawson favours Michael Clarke for captaincy role over Ponting
Former Australian fast bowler, Geoff Lawson, has asked to remove Australia's skipper Ricky Ponting from the test captaincy so that the batsman can concentrate on his batting. The statement comes after the Australian cricket team was slapped with a 2-0 test
match drubbing by Dhoni’s men in India a few days back. Ricky Ponting’s tactics in the two-match test series got heavy criticism from cricket pundits including former teammate Shane Warne.
Australia’s seven-wicket defeat at Bangalore was the teams’ third consecutive Test defeat while it was Ponting’s fifth series defeat as Australian captain. These statistics have raised serious concerns over the side’s performance ahead of this summer’s Ashes
series that kicks off in Brisbane on the 25th of next month.
Former http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Clarke-c51120 as test captain who has been quite successful with Australia's T20 outfit.
“.... it may be time to say, 'look mate, we've got Michael Clarke ready to go with a nice fresh young mind, he can be the captain and you focus on your batting and try to restore yourself to the level we know you're capable'," said Lawson while talking to
an Australian sports channel.
The recent Test series against India in http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750 saw the Australian skipper scoring three half centuries from four outings. The Australian pacer believed that Ponting had more potential and could have done much better. Lawson quoted Sachin Tendulkar as an example
who has scored a lot of runs since he has been relieved of the captaincy role.
Ricky Ponting, batting reasonably well, scored 70 plus runs in both the innings at Bangalore and Lawson termed his performance as great. However, he then compared Ponting's performance with Sachin Tendulkar, the double-centurion of the Bangalore Test.
"The difference is that Tendulkar got a double-hundred and then backed it up with a 50-odd not out and obviously he can focus on those big scores,” said Lawson. "You've got to look at the way Ponting is batting and think mentally he can't concentrate for
long enough."
Australia’s recent mauling at the hands of India has resulted in them slipping to the No. 5 position in the ICC Test Championship table – a place behind their Ashes rivals England.
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