Ricky Ponting breaks down Australia’s World Cup struggles
Australia just haven’t played well enough is the brutal assessment of a World Cup winning captain ahead of a must-win final game.
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Ricky Ponting was sure, before the T20 World Cup, that David Warner wouldn’t just make the most runs for Australia in their title defence, he’d make the most for the tournament.
So far, however, the superstar opener, the player of the tournament last year in the UAE when the unfancied Aussies defied the naysayers to lift the trophy, has made just 11 runs in three innings.
But his struggles are just one element of the World Cup that hasn’t gone right for the hosts who “just haven’t played well enough”, according to Ponting.
He thought Australia were one of just three potential winners, alongside India and England, before action began.
Instead the Aussies are in a precarious position ahead of Friday’s must-win final pool game against Afghanistan in Adelaide.
As the nation continues to hold its collective breath awaiting the team line-up, with captain Aaron Finch and Tim David under injury clouds, Cameron Green lurking as a potential big-hitting addition and superstar seamer Pat Cummins seemingly under pressure, Ponting, a World Cup winning skipper himself, gave his thoughts on the campaign from before, during, and even potentially what’s to come for the Aussie T20 team.
DO THEY HAVE THE RIGHT SQUAD?
The Aussies locked in their squad a long way out despite form concerns over Finch, adding just David and eventually Green as an injury replacement for Josh Inglis to the squad that went all the way last year.
Emerging quick Nathan Ellis was a name on people’s lips, and carrying Steve Smith, without playing him, has raised eyebrows.
But Ponting doesn’t think selection is an issue.
“They’d obviously told Finchy a long way out almost regardless that he was going to be the man to lead them through the World Cup. And showing faith in champion players like that, I think is fair enough,” Ponting said.
“But he hadn’t batted well for a while leading in which I think was a bit of a concern for everybody. Cameron Green’s the interesting one. He just hadn’t played any T20 cricket and the opportunity that he got (in India) to play those games and open the batting, people could probably say he shouldn’t have got that opportunity, but doing that created this bit of ‘should he be in, should be not be in’. So I think what they’ve done has been right. I just think they haven’t played well enough.
“They just haven’t just haven’t clicked when they’ve needed to click unfortunately for them because that’s where they find themselves where they are now. I don’t think they could have changed much. I don’t think they’ve just stuck with the guys that won the last one for the sake of it. I just think they’re the best players.”
WARNER STRUGGLES
Warner bashed 289 runs at the 2021 T20 World Cup, the second most for the tournament, on wickets Ponting said “didn’t suit him”. So returning home was supposed to be the perfect platform to go big again.
He hasn’t, yet, but Ponting said a big one from Warner and his teammates on Friday wouldn’t surprise.
“Davey hasn’t played anywhere near his best. Just knowing what he’s like, a World Cup at home, I thought he’d be the leading run scorer in the whole tournament.
“He hasn’t got those early boundaries that he normally gets. He’s been behind in the ball count early on and been under pressure and then got out.
“He was in really good form coming into it. I don’t think there’s ever much technically wrong, it’s just when you’re not batting at your absolute best this is the hardest format of the game to play because there’s no nowhere to hide.
“And you know that when you go out to bat and you’ve had a bad net or you’ve had a bad game the game before, to go with that mindset that you can hit the first ball for four and you’ve got no chance of getting out, that’s where you have to be and if you’re not there, then it’s a really, really difficult game to play.
“But in all likelihood, they’ll come out needing to stand up and get it done and forget about all the negativity and just go out and play. They might just flip the switch.”
BOLD BOWLING MOVES
Ponting pushed IPL winner Josh Hazlewood ahead of Cummins and Mitchell Starc in the pecking order for the Aussie outfit and made Cummins the first one out should Australia need more batting.
But he liked Starc’s move away from opening the bowling, for one good reason.
“I think it‘s been a really good ploy for Starc not to open the bowling. His record over the last 12 or 18 months with the new ball is less flattering to be honest,” he said.
“We all talk about how dangerous he is with the brand new ball and we’re trying to get early wickets, but the facts are he actually hasn’t been able to do that.
“But what they’ve done with using him outside the first couple of overs and through the middle it’s actually worked a treat, and so he’s actually been very good in that role on the way through.”
CHAMPS UNDER THE PUMP
None of the hosts have won the T20 World Cup in the previous eight editions.
The last time Australia defended the World Cup at home was the 1992 50-over World Cup, where they didn’t even make the semis. It’s a pressure only known to the host team, but Ponting isn’t so sure it’s been a factor this time.
“There’s always more pressure at home for a number of reasons,” he said.
“There’s other distractions, things that are happening around you, there’s families, there’s constant messages asking for tickets and sponsors’ appearances and there’s all these other things that you do when you’re at home they don’t worry about when you’re away. So there’s no doubt it’s harder.
“But I actually felt the boys had been up and about being the reigning champs in our conditions. The fact that they weren’t expected to do any good last time when they did, I would have thought if they could find a way to actually release the pressure and go out and just play, I thought they’re gonna be really hard to beat and they might still be. Who knows?
“When you are the holder of a title, it’s really important to go in not thinking about that.
“You’ve got to go in with the thought of winning a title again, not defending and holding on to what happened last time. I wouldn’t have thought there’d be any of that sort of element around this team because they are they’re a terrific bunch of blokes and I’m sure they’ve got a really relaxed environment and some of the players are all pretty relaxed characters. I’m sure they’d be having a lot of fun, but they just haven’t played well.”
THE NEXT SKIPPER
Finch has already handed over the ODI captaincy to Pat Cummins, and speculation is rampant that he might be finished a T20 captain too at the end of the tournament.
Ponting hadn’t thought much about who should be the next captain, but one name stood out.
“I couldn’t see Pat Cummins wanting to take it on. I was a little bit surprised he took the one-day stuff on to be honest as well just with workload and stuff and how many games he potentially misses. So maybe you look to Maxy (Glenn Maxwell).
“I saw Mitchell Marsh last week had taken his name out. He said he wanted to play and not have to worry about it. I think in the current group, it probably would be Maxy.
“He’s obviously done a fair bit in IPL and in BBL. I think that’s probably the logical one.”
Originally published as Ricky Ponting breaks down Australia’s World Cup struggles
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