Ponting’s struggle forces him to move down the batting order
Ricky Ponting, the Australian captain considers moving himself down the order in the batting line-up. In the upcoming Sydney Test of the Ashes series 2010, the Australian legend might think about changing his batting position.
Ponting has occupied the number three position for more than nine years. In the process, he has been one of the most successful one-down batsmen in the history of cricket, considering both forms of the game.
Ahead of the Ashes series, the newly appointed selector Greg Chappell suggested Ponting to change his usual batting position and move to number four. In response, the current Australian player rejected the idea of coming into bat after two down.
However, the Australian captain has just managed 113 runs in eight innings at an average of 16 against England. Because of his average batting performance in the ongoing Ashes series, the visiting team has retained the urn as they lead by a margin of 2-1
with a Test match to play in Sydney. The visitors defeated the hosts in the Boxing-Day Test by a significant margin of an innings and 157 runs.
The http://www.senore.com/Cricket/New-South-Wales-c823 player said, "I guess there's been a few doubts creep into my mind the last couple of weeks.” I'm not going to hide that. I think I definitely have to re-evaluate where I'm at as far as a Test batsman is concerned."
In the last decade, Ponting has been Australia’s best batsmen. The right-hand batsman holds the Australian record for scoring most number of runs and centuries, in both Test and One-day international matches. And, most of his runs have come, batting at his
favourite position.
In addition, it was the way he used to dominate the opposition bowling attacks, his mental strength and ability to take on the best in the world that made him a world class performer with the bat.
However, in the last couple of series, Ponting hasn’t been able to play according to his baffling nature. Throughout the series, he was troubled by the short balls and probing seam attacks have found out a jinx in his batting technique. Apart, from his sole
hundred in Hobart, he hasn’t been able to rack up another hundred.
The young Australian batsmen are already knocking on the door and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Usman-Khawaja-c2729 is one of the players to have impressed the selectors. Ponting himself feels that Khawaja is ready for Test cricket and with the way things are going for the Australian captain,
Usman might replace him for the final encounter at the SCG.
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