http://www.senore.com/Cricket/RT-Ponting-c2377 – Cricket News Update
South Australian coach, Darren Berry, has insisted that top-class batman Ricky Ponting is not a threat to his side, as they prepare to take on http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Tasmania-c854 for the Ryobi One-Day Cup final, scheduled for February 25 at the Adelaide Oval.
Ponting, who was recently axed from the national ODI squad owing to a poor performance in the ongoing Commonwealth Bank series, claimed that while his international limited-overs career seems all but over, he was keen to continue in Test cricket, for which
he planned to keep in shape by playing in the domestic circuit, for Tasmania.
The final will be Ponting’s first domestic match since December 2007, and his first state final since the Sheffield Shield decider in 1993-94. The batsman has earned quite a reputation, at home and abroad, as one of the great modern day batsmen, and ranks
at number 2 on the ODI all-time batting records list (with 13704 runs), and number 3 on the Test batting records (with 13200 runs).
However, Berry refuses to be intimidated.
“We know Ponting is a champion but so what?" said http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Berry-c47842. "He can have his front pad blown off just as easily as any other batsman can.”
Attempting to neutralize the hype being created around Ponting’s return to domestic cricket, Berry claimed that in his recent form, Ponting was vulnerable and his side needed to find a way to expose him.
“He has to find some form and we have to stop him. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Ricardo-Gouveia-c84824 is a great player but just another player in their team like Mark Cosgrove and Jonathan Wells.”
While he admitted that he would have preferred to see the former skipper still playing for the national team, the Redbacks’ coach insisted that at the end of the day, Punter was just another batsman.
“He's a right-hand batsman that we just have to dismiss and at the moment, he's showing some frailties in his game and in his technique so he's as gettable as anybody,” he insisted.
If the Redbacks, who are currently at the top of the series points table (with the Tasmanian Tigers directly below them at number two), are able to crush the opposition and emerge victorious on Saturday, it will be their first Ryobi Cup win since 1986-87.
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