Ricky Ponting to miss opening One Day International against Sri Lanka
Australian skipper and Captain Ricky Ponting will be flying out to Tasmania to attend a family funeral on Wednesday. This means the Aussie captain would be missing the first One Day International (ODI) against Sri Lanka in Melbourne tomorrow.
Ponting said at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) that he would be travelling to his home town in Launceston in http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Tasmania-c854 to attend his grandmother’s funeral.
In Ponting’s absence, Australian right-hand batsman Michael http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Clarke-c51120 will be leading the team. He will be captaining the side in the first week of the three ODI matches. Ponting said that he will be coming back to the ground tomorrow afternoon.
Ricky Ponting recently has been resting a lot during the last few matches ahead of the Ashes and the World Cup preparations. Ponting did not play in the recent debacle performance by http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746 in the ODIs in India. He last played in ODIs against England
which finished in July.
Clarke had his share of dismal captaincy himself. Last time he captained Australia at the same ground, the Kangaroos lost to http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750.
Ponting further said that the Australian selectors have yet to finalise their team for the opening match against Sri Lanka because of the uncertain weather conditions. Their training session was interrupted by rain and the day-night game on Wednesday is
forecasted to be hit by heavy showers.
However, Ponting confirmed that Tasmanian spinner Xavier Doherty would be all set to make his international debut after a week of preparing in the Sheffield Shield Cup on the MCG ground. He proved his form after taking a five-wicket haul in his first week.
Ponting was all praises for the young spinner as he is his state teammate as well. He conceded that he is probably the best spinner in Australia for the shorter forms of cricket for the last few years. If the weather decides to be on the Aussies side, then
Doherty would finally be getting an opportunity to play.
The Australians have also lost their only Twenty20 match against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sri-Lanka-c758 which was quite a blow for the players Down Under. They are looking for a win to end the losing streak across all formats. The Kangaroos are desperate to find their form as the Ashes
Test series are due to begin from November 25 and they have lost their last five internationals.
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