Ponting deserved compassion: Allan Border – Cricket News Update
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Allan-Robert-Border-c43726, the former Australian captain, has spoken out in favour of Ricky Ponting, who was abruptly dropped from the ODI squad recently, saying the veteran batsman deserves to be treated with respect and sympathy.
While admitting that in some complicated cases, tough calls had to be made; the legendary batsman added that there was also “room to have some compassion as well.”
“I think in all sports, there's certain people who have built up a certain amount of ‘compassion points’,” he said, before going on to praise Ponting for his outstanding skill, and phenomenal career, which made him, according to Border, second only to Bradman.
Border joins a host of other players, including http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746 have handled Ponting’s dismissal.
The 37-year-old was axed from the squad following poor performances in the ongoing tri-series Down Under, during which he fell into a batting slump, scoring 2, 1, 6, 2, and 7 in his five innings. Before being dropped, the batsman had expressed the desire
to regain his form, and made himself available for selection for the remainder of the series.
While he admitted that the selection panel’s decision had been unexpected, he was going to accept it graciously, expressing the desire to continue playing Test and domestic cricket.
However, Border feels that Ponting is passionate about the game, and still has a lot to offer to the national team, in every format of the game. He expressed the view that the former skipper should be allowed to continue playing if he feels fit enough.
While Ponting’s performances in the Commonwealth Bank series were disappointing, he was superb in the home Test leg against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Phillip-Hughes-c2185,
and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Usman-Khawaja-c2729, who have all failed to get a permanent reckoning in the team.
According to the ex-left hander, this indicates that, in the absence of other options, the experienced batsman still has an important role to play in the team.
“Ricky Ponting at his absolute best is a walk-up start. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/RT-Ponting-c2377 a little bit below his best is still heaps better than a lot of the young guys that we've got going around,” Border observed.
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