Ricky Ponting blames weak bench warmers for Ashes loss
The battered Australia captain Ricky Ponting has blamed the weak bench warmers of his side for the Ashes humiliation at the hands of England. Australia lost an Ashes urn at its home grounds after a gap of 24 years, as England thwarted the
mighty Aussies by an innings and 157 runs at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Wednesday to retain the title.
England in its parallel tour of Australia in 2006-07 faced a 5-0 drubbing at the hands of their Ashes rivals. Ponting feels that the lack of talented players in Australia’s reserve squad was the major reason behind the inability of hosts
to replicate their convincing performance at home.
"Maybe we have not got as deep a pool of talent to pick from that we have had in previous years," an Australian journal quoted Ponting on Thursday.
The mighty Aussies, who once ruled the perch of international cricket, have been struggling for form in the past few months. A month ago, they faced a clean sweep in two-match Test series against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750 at latter’s home ground followed by
an ODI series loss against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sri-Lanka-c758, their ever first defeat against the Lankans on home turfs.
They started the latest Ashes campaign in an equally unconvincing fashion, bringing in at least two replacements in their every next game. This stopped the bottom performers from building confidence in them and the result was as expected
- an Ashes loss.
But Ponting, who will miss the Ashes finale in Sydney after aggravating his finger injury, has described the loss as part of a cricketing cycle which sees teams going up to the peak and then touching the ground.
"That happens at different times. I am a big believer in the cycle. You look back 20 years or 30 years, we were one of the worst cricket nations in the world. We have not been a powerhouse of world cricket forever.”
Ponting has urged for a review of the side to know the weaknesses and strengths of the current structure and then adopt some sequence. This would help Cricket http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746 to steer the side to the peaks of international cricket.
“It is important we look at all those things and pay the ultimate attention to them and try to develop a pool of players once again so we have ready-made international players to pick from," said Ponting who became Australia’s ever first
captain in more than a century to lose an Ashes urn thrice as captain.
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