Ponting urges out-of-form players to step up
Australian captain Ricky Ponting feels that the added pressure of an extended squad will bring some good performances from the players struggling for form over past few months.
Ponting believes the move by the selectors will prompt out-of-form players to show some responsibility during the next round of Australia's domestic Sheffield Shield and Australia-A games which start from Wednesday.
"There's a bit of extra pressure on a few of the guys around at the moment. I'm sure there'll be a few guys who will have lots of different things going through their heads, but there's nothing wrong with a bit of added pressure and a few nerves. I think generally that brings out the best in guys."
Cricket http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746 (CA) announced its extended 17-man preliminary squad for the Ashes opener earlier today, which will be trimmed to 12 or 13 members at the conclusion of the next round of Sheffield Shield’s matches.
Some of the Australian players, including Michael Hussey, Marcus North and off-spinner Nathan Hauritz, have struggled during the last few series, especially against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750 last month.
While Hussey and North are the the main concerns for the Kangaroos in the batting department, off-spinner Nathan Hauritz is looking out of favour with the selectors and needs to come up with a strong performance against Tasmania in the Sheffield Shield clash starting this week to improve his chances of playing the opening Ashes Test.
In the preliminary squad, Hauritz is facing competition from Steven Smith and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Tasmania-c854’s Xavier Doherty.
Ponting urged those named in the preliminary squad to come up with solid performances to make the Playing XIs of the Brisbane Test, or risk being left out of the Ashes squad.
"That's as simple as it gets. Everyone that's been named in that squad of 17 is a very realistic chance of playing in Brisbane,” said the skipper.
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