Under-fire Ricky Ponting ruled out of Sydney Test; Michael http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Clarke-c51120 to step up in place
As he reels from losing the Ashes urn for the third consecutive time as Australian Test captain, one might think Ricky Ponting’s injured little finger would be the least of his worries. But the injury is
indeed the official reason why the Australian skipper will have to sit out the final Ashes Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
Ponting’s finger sustained a fracture when he attempted to catch an edge off English batsman Jonathan Trott during Australia’s one victorious Test of the series, the third match at the WACA Ground in Perth.
“Punter”, as the captain is affectionately known, did brave the injury to take the field in the all-important fourth Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, but was probably repenting his decision just two
days later when he became only the second Aussie captain (after Billy Murdoch) to lose three Ashes series.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746 were crushed by an innings and 157 runs at the MCG, becoming the first Australian side in 24 years to lose the Ashes at home, as England took an unassailable 2-1 lead in the series. Their lead
means that the current series can be at best drawn by Australia now, but the Ashes urn will stay with England because they were the defending champions, courtesy their 2-1 win at home last year.
Ponting left the MCG as the match drew to its inevitable close, in order to have his finger x-rayed. The results have ruled him out of the Sydney Test.
I'm devastated to tell you the truth, it was the news I was dreading," Ponting said after landing in Sydney. "During the game I didn't think I'd done too much more to it."
Ponting could face surgery on his finger, but he seems hopeful that he will be fit in time for the 2011 Cricket World Cup, when Australia will make their bid to win the cup for the fourth consecutive time.
"What I need right at the moment is just as much time as I possibly can to let it heal and make sure that I'm 100% right for the start of the World Cup," he said. "That's really how the decision was made,
so I've just got to do everything in my power over the next little bit to look after it as well as I can."
When asked if he was considering retirement, he said: "I'm not thinking about it at all."
Nevertheless, there are few who would believe Ponting has any choice left in the matter, considering not only his side’s humiliating Ashes defeat but also his own steep decline in batting form. Ponting,
who is Australia’s leading Test and ODI scorer and the second-highest scorer in Test cricket history, has scored only 113 runs in the first four Ashes games.
Ponting has received support from the long time serving Australian team physiotherapist http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Alex-Kountouris-c43123. “Hopefully he will commence training in the later part of the Australian summer,” said Kountouris.
“He is expected to be fully fit for the World Cup."
It remains to be seen how long Punter takes to recover, but for the time being, he will have to watch from the sidelines as his team tries to regain its lost pride in the Sydney Test, which begins on January
3. Right-handed number four batsman Michael Clarke has been appointed to lead the Australians in Ponting’s place.
The last few months have been extremely tough for the Aussies in all formats of the game. Since making it to the finals of the T20 World Championship in the Caribbean in May this year, they have been on
a downward spiral. They lost a five-match ODI series to England, a two-match T20 series to http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750 before succumbing to the Sri Lankans at home in the T20 and ODI formats.
This Ashes defeat, however, has by far been the most painful and mortifying defeat yet for the Australians.
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