Just a few moments ago, Yuvraj Singh slammed the ball through the covers, and India eliminated Australia from the ICC World Cup.
In the dying moments, the cameras kept panning to a dejected looking Ricky Ponting. We cannot help but wonder; is this the end of the road for Punter Ponting? Ponting has been one of the very best players of his generation. He led Australia to back-to-back World Cup victories in 2003 and 2007, and to a record streak of test matches.
In recent years though, his star has faded. He led Asutralia to consecutive Ashes series defeats in England, and then the crushing Ashes defeat in Australia this summer. Now Asutralia's World Cup streak has ended.
Ponting is still a top player, as evidenced by his 104 against India overnight. But at 36, there have been signs for a year or two that his best days are behind him. We cannot help but wonder if he has reached the end of the road, and if this is the right moment for him to bow out of the game that he has dominated for 15 years.
In the end, Ponting may not even have any say in it. Australians are not generally tolerant of failure, and this summer has not been a successful one by Australian standards. The selectors may require him to relinquish the Australian captaincy. That would be an unfortunate end to a stellar career, and we wonder if now is the time for Ricky Ponting to stand aside; own his own terms.
3 comments:
He should have stepped aside after he lost the Ashes in England the first time. He has largely been a disaster as a Captain since.
The problem Australia have is they have no obvious replacement. Clarke is not scoring runs, Michael Hussey is too old so I see Haddin as the obvious choice but he has a few chinks as well.
He would still make the NZ team in a heartbeat!
He has been unfortunate in that he has presided over an era of Aussie Cricket where they have lost a team full of superstars over the last few years, Warne, McGrath, Langer, Hayden, Gilchrist to name a few.
One thing is sure though, the Aussies will be back, but at the moment, it is good fun to see them suffer.
Jeff - you will have noticed I onlyy questioned his batting. As a batsman an in form Ponting there is possibly only Tendulkar and Kallis who would rate with him over the last five years.
Unfortunately his captaincy was not at the same level.
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