The Hindu : Sport : Ponting must go

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Thursday, Jan 10, 2008
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Ponting must go

It was a wretched and ill-mannered display, says Peter Roebuck

Ricky Ponting must be replaced as captain of the Australian cricket team. If Cricket Australia cares a fig for the tattered reputation of our national team in our national sport it will not for a moment longer tolerate the sort of conduct seen from the captain and his senior players over the last few days.

Beyond comparison it was the ugliest performance put up by an Australian side for twenty years.

That the senior players in the Australian team are oblivious to the fury they raised amongst many followers of the game in this country and beyond its shores merely confirms their own narrow and self-obsessed viewpoint.

Doubtless they were not exposed to the messages that poured in from distressed enthusiasts aghast to see the scenes of bad sportsmanship and triumphalism presented at the SCG during and after the match.

Pained past players rang to express their private disgust. It was a wretched and ill-mannered display and not to be endured from any side let alone an international outfit representing a proud sporting nation.

Make no mistake it is not only the reputation of these cricketers that has suffered. Australia itself has been embarrassed.

The notion that Ponting can hereafter take the Australian team to India is preposterous. He has shown not the slightest interest in the well-being of the game, not the slightest sign of diplomatic skills, not a single mark of respect for his accomplished and widely-admired opponents.

Harbhajan Singh can be an irritating young man but he is head of a family and responsible. And all the Australians elders want to do is to hunt him from the game. Australian fieldsmen fire insults from the corners of their mouths, an intemperate Sikh warrior overreacts and his rudeness is seized upon. It might impress barrack room lawyers.

In the last few days the Australian captain has presided over a performance that dragged the game into the pits. He turned a group of professional cricketers into a pack of hunting dogs. As much can be told from the conduct of his closest allies in the team.

As usual Matthew Hayden crossed himself upon reaching three figures in his commanding second innings. How he combines his faith with throwing his weight around on the field has long bemused opposing sides, whose fondness for him ran out a long time ago. Hayden has much better in him.

Michael Clarke also had a dreadful match but he is a young man and has time to rethink his outlook.

That his mind was in disarray could be told from his batting. In the first innings he offered no shot to a straight ball and in the second he remained at the crease after giving an easy catch to slip. On his way back to the pavilion he used so many profanities in public that people, including the winner of an Order of Australia, took offence.

Ponting has let him down. On this evidence it is too early to give him the vice-captaincy of his country. It is a captain’s primary task to prepare his successor for the ordeals of office.

Nothing need be said about the catch Clarke took in the second innings except that in the prevailing circumstances the umpires were ill-advised to take anyone’s word for anything.

The Indians were convinced that Ponting grounded a catch he claimed on the final afternoon at the SCG. Throughout those heated hours, the Australian captain remained hostile, kicking the ground, demanding decisions, pressurising the umpires.

Probably the worst aspect of the Australian performance was their conduct at the end.

When the last catch was taken they formed into a huddle and started jumping up a down like teenagers at a rave. It was not euphoria. It was ecstasy. They had swallowed a pill called Vengeance, amongst the most dangerous on the shelves. Not one player so much as thought about shaking hands with the defeated and departing. So much for Andrew Flintoff consoling a stricken opponent in his hour of defeat.

Nor could Ponting and Gilchrist stop themselves publicly chiding Tony Greig for daring to criticise the timing of the declaration. They should have been thanking their lucky stars that three wickets had fallen in five balls, one of them in dubious circumstances. It was not fit conduct from an Australian captain or vice-captain.

By all accounts Ponting was subsequently rude towards Indian reporters at his press conference. Ponting has not provided the leadership expected from an Australian cricket captain and so must be removed. It is possible to love a country and not its cricket team.

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