Ponting’s disputed captaincy gets a staunch backing from coach Tim Nielsen
Tim Nielsen, the Australian coach, has backed the incumbent skipper Ricky Ponting as the best choice to lead Kangaroos in the upcoming Ashes series against England. Defensive field placement for Hauritz on the final day of the Bangalore
Test has put Ponting’s leadership under scrutiny ahead of the Ashes.
The Australian coach said that no one was better in the Australian side or even world cricket to lead the Kangaroos next month.
"There is nobody better in Australian cricket or world cricket to lead this side," Nielsen said in the lead-up to Sunday's opening ODI in Kochi. "While we haven't had some of the results we would have liked, there's no doubt in my
mind, or anybody's mind inside the group, that Ricky is the right man to lead the team."
The tourists underwent a desperately close loss in Mohali and were mauled by Sachin Tendulkar's double century in Bangalore as they faced 2-0 whitewash. The 2-0 series loss against India in http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750 led to the mighty Aussies dropping
to fifth spot on the Reliance Mobile ICC Test Rankings Table behind their Ashes rivals England.
Ponting's tactics in the two-match Test series were heavily criticized by pundits of cricket including his former teammate and the log-spin prodigy Shane Warne who had aired his frustration via a message posted on the micro-blogging internet site Twitter
which read: "How the h**l can hauritz bowl to this field??" Warne tweeted. "Feeling for hauritz, terrible!! What are these tactics? Sorry Ricky but what are you doing."
Another former Test paceman of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746, Geoff Lawson also bashed Ponting and called for his removal from the captaincy role.
“.... it may be time to say 'look mate, we've got Michael http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Clarke-c51120 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
Nielsen said that Ponting has done his job absolutely well and kept a consistent outlook on things, despite of successive defeats.
"As the captain of this team and the leader of our group, [Ponting] does a great job in keeping a consistent outlook on things," Nielsen said. "It is certainly not a time to be panicking. I can't think of a better person to be leading
a group through a few ups and downs."
Nathan Hauritz’s form was also a cause of concern during the recent tour but Nielsen said the blame should not be laid on Hauritz lone rather there were other reasons for the series defeat. The coach admitted that both the bowling
and batting of the side was not up to the mark.
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