Warne still has ‘issues’ with Ponting’s field settings for Hauritz on India tour

SYDNEY - The Australian selectors are still debating over whether spinner Nathan Hauritz has a role to play in the first Ashes Test at the Gabba, but bowling legend Shane Warne wants skipper Ricky Ponting to be more flexible in field arrangements for Hauritz.

Warne, who had a problem with Hauritz’s field arrangements in India, is not going to let Ponting get away with saying it was Hauritz who set them.

He suggested that the bowler’s planning in concert with Ponting needed to become more flexible, The Sydney Morning Herald reports.

“As a bowler and as a captain, the only thing you need to ask every time is how am I getting them out? The fields that I saw (in the second Test in Bangalore) with a deep cover, deep mid off and a silly bat pad, there was no way Nathan Hauritz was going to get a wicket, and I didn’t see how, and that’s why I said it was silly fields.

“I’m not backtracking from that (the criticism) at all. What was misconcepted (sic) by everyone is that I never said (anything) about his captaincy or he should be sacked or any of that,” Warne told ESPN.

In answer to Ponting’s contention that he should not have been attacked over fields that his bowler had chosen, Warne argued it was still up to the captain to measure the effectiveness of the tactics employed under his watch.

“As a captain, if your bowler sets the field that’s fine, that’s great to show faith in him. But if you look around the field and think ‘how’s he going to get anyone out here’, then you negotiate with him and you say ‘well have you thought of this or have you thought of that?

“Now every single spinner in India has struggled, we’ve all struggled, we’ve all been smashed all over the park, so it’s not easy, so that was what they went with, which was fine,” Warne said.

Warne believes this Ashes summer will be the one that defines the career not only of Ponting but also of every player in his team. (ANI)