Ricky Ponting admits his folly and apologises for “overstepping the mark"
Ricky Ponting, the frustrated Australian captain keen to avoid an unwanted piece of Ashes captaincy history, admitted on Tuesday that he had exceeded the mark during the prolonged altercation with the match referees on the second day of the ongoing fourth
Ashes Test. The Australian skipper, remorseful over his arguing with the on-field umpire, also apologised for the row.
"Yesterday was me overstepping the mark and obviously I apologise for the way that looked, it's certainly not the way I want to be looked upon as a captain," conceded Ponting in an interview with an Australian sports channel on Tuesday.
The 36-year-old Australian captain, who is just a Test defeat away from becoming the first Australian captain in 120 years to lose three Ashes urns as a captain, had a confrontation with Aleem Dar, the match umpire, after disagreeing with a review against
Kevin Pietersen. He had a remonstration of more than a minute with Dar followed by an exchange of words with the batsman and the umpire Tony Hill.
The Tasmanian batsman was pleaded guilty to Level 1 offence by the ICC which relates to "arguing or entering into a prolonged discussion with the umpire about his decision" and was fined 40 per cent of his match fee besides a censure from the match referee.
Ranjan Madugalle, the match referee said that the actions of Australian captain were unacceptable as the leader of a side is expected to set example for his team instead of getting involved in prolonged discussions with the field umpires, arguing about their
decisions.
Ponting agreed with Madugalle’s judgment as he said: "I think it's really important that if you are a captain of a senior or junior side you don't look at what I did and think that's right. It's certainly not and I apologise for that,” the repentant Aussie
added further.
Ponting denied any links of the incident with his frustration at his team’s weak position in the Test. On the day three, the hosts finally dismissed Strauss’s men for 513 just before lunch. And while http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746 is trailing the 415-run lead, things are more
in favour for the tourists as the Aussies were six down for 169 by the stumps on Tuesday. Wicketkeeper batsman Brad Haddin was not out at 11 while Mitchell Johnson was on the crease at 6.
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