http://www.senore.com/Cricket/RT-Ponting-c2377 takes help from his first coach, Greg Shipperd – Cricket News Update
The career of Ricky Ponting is at stake due to his prolonged batting slump, and the veteran batsman is eager to do everything to get out of it.
The embattled former skipper has disclosed that he had sought the advice of his first Sheffield Shield mentor, Greg Shipperd, in an attempt to regain his form.
"I got http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Greg-Shipperd-c1507, my first state coach, to come down and feed me some balls on the machine, so that he could have a bit of a look at what I was doing. He knows my game very well, and I knew the areas I needed to work on and the things I needed to fix,"
said Ponting who is the highest run-getter in Tests – 12656 runs in 158 games, for http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746.
The 37-year-old has been performing well below par over the past 12 months, as opposed to the high standards he has set. During the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/ICC-World-Cup-2011-c100625 World Cup 2011, he did not bat well and was not amongst the runs, except for his century in the quarter-final clash against
India.
His poor run continued in the subsequent tours to http://www.senore.com/Cricket/South-Africa-c757, where again he failed to impress. Following his poor run, he is under massive pressure, as there are growing calls by cricket pundits for him to quit international cricket.
He was lucky to retain his place in the squad for the India series, and the selectors were under pressure to axe him following his terrible performance over the past one year.
Ponting, on the other hand, is not ready to give up, and has been working extremely hard on his game to regain his batting prowess.
Speaking to the media ahead of the Boxing Day Test, the experienced batsman expressed that he is feeling great after a diligent three-day training session.
He said, "But just to have a different set of eyes and a different set of ears outside of the usual guys was helpful. Just to get here and have another three days of training under our belt has been great.”
The four-match Test series against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750 gets underway at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Boxing Day. This is the last chance for Ponting to show that he belongs at the top level, and if the ordinary batting displays continue, he is likely to be axed from
the Australian team.
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