World Cricket II

Ponting hoping to Win an Ashes Series in England in 2013

Whatever you say, one has to appreciate his confidence. I will not be surprised if he comes back in 2013 and wins an Ashes series in England. People are writing him off too early. He is just going through the "doubt in mid 30's" phase that every great batsman goes through. Obviously, in all such cases, a renaissance period follows where the batsman reasserts his greatness. I expect Ponting to go on until atleast 2013, which means he will retire with all the records in his name - top career aggregate of test runs, most test centuries. Ofcourse, a record as captain that will be unmatched, too. Especially if he manages to win the Ashes in England and remove the one blot in his captaincy record.
(Despite that statistical record as captain, one ofcourse will find it difficult to place him above Waugh, Taylor and Border in captaincy stakes)

Ponting backs incumbents to find form again for India tour

LEEDS: The prospect of changes to Australia's batting line-up in time for October's Test tour of India is remote, according to captain Ricky Ponting..

Only Simon Katich (46.75) and Michael Clarke (34.75), finished the two-Test series against Pakistan with a batting average above 30. The worst averages among the specialists were, ironically, for the only two Australian players to claim five-wicket hauls: Shane Watson (16) and Marcus North (nine).

The performance of Steve Smith at Headingley, scoring 77 from just 100 balls, fed speculation he could take over North's place in the team in India and also be a secondary spin option to Nathan Hauritz. But that possibility was discounted by Ponting.

''I don't think Smith will put pressure on North, no,'' the captain said. ''I thought the runs we got out of Smith … were pretty entertaining and very valuable as far as the game was concerned [but] I think you can look at all of our batsmen through this tour. We've faced some pretty challenging conditions at different times. Both innings at Lord's the ball got around a fair bit, certainly the first innings here [Headingley] were probably the most challenging conditions that any of us have batted in.

''We all analyse ourselves pretty closely and we all want to play well all the time but unfortunately that's not the way this game works. But if you're going to win Test matches you have to have five or six or seven of your guys playing well each game and we probably didn't have that in this particular Test match.''

Besides English county cricket, the only chance for Australian players to impress before the India tour will be at the Champions League in September. While Victorian Cameron White and South Australians Callum Ferguson and Michael Klinger are due to play in the tournament, Ponting dismissed the suggestion that strong Twenty20 form there could be enough to to secure a position on the tour of India. ''For those three guys … probably not, no,'' he said.

The India tour was initially scheduled to consist of seven 50-over matches, however, Cricket Australia agreed to the host's request to change that to two Tests and three one-dayers, in a bid to fortify India's No.1 ranking in Tests.

While those two Tests, in Mohali and Bangalore, are effectively a bonus for Australia in terms of preparation for the Ashes, Ponting lamented that pitch characteristics in India will be vastly different to those expected for the Ashes opener at the Gabba in late November.

''If you were trying to set down and map out your perfect preparation for an Ashes series or a home series it probably wouldn't be playing two Test matches in India,'' he said. ''But you don't live in an ideal world. We'll wait and see who we've got that's fit and ready to go for that tour and pick a squad of players we think can win a Test series over there, and then worry about the start of the Ashes after that.''

Ponting agreed his interest in tinkering with the bowling line-up could provide, injuries permitting, a prompt recall to the national squad for Peter Siddle and Ryan Harris.

''The beauty about our squad at the moment is the depth we've got, particularly in the fast bowling side of things. Siddle is on his way back and is in very good physical shape, Ryan has had knee surgery and is probably a little bit behind at the moment,'' he said.

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''The beauty about our squad at the moment is the depth we've got, particularly in the fast bowling side of things. Siddle is on his way back and is in very good physical shape, Ryan has had knee surgery and is probably a little bit behind at the moment,'' he said.

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intha maathiri naMaala solla mudiyalayae :(

The beauty about our squad, Dinesh, is that we also have depth - evan vandhAlum fast bowling results orE mAdhiri dhAn irukkum :lol:

England 337/4 to 354/10. :shock:

Asif-77/5, idhula 4 LBW, 1 Bowled.

from 337 / 4 to 354 all out... :shock: ennaya kappithanama aadureenga... Mohamad Asif is a terrific bowler esp in these kind of pitches... he is NOT so fast but his seam movement makes the batsman searching the ball...

End of over 3 - Pakistan 0/0.

Pakisthan 48 / 6 :shock: :lol:

England 337/4 to 354 allout :shock:
Pakistan 48/6

Bakistaan :lol: