Ponting’s captaincy is hurting Australia: Ian Chappell

PERTH - Former Australian cricket captain and now television commentator Ian Chappell has said that incumbent skipper Ricky Ponting is trying too hard to prove he’s worthy, and adds that when he quits, wicketkeeper Brad Haddin might be Australia’s best option as a stop-gap leader

“The fact is that Ponting’s captaincy is starting to hurt the Australian team. In what appears to be an attempt to prove the critics wrong, Ponting has become impatient for success and his constant changes to the field placings only served to distract the bowlers from their task. He looks like a captain trying too hard to prove he’s worthy, rather than a steady one with a firm grip on the levers,” Chappell said.

“If it hadn’t been for Johnson’s remarkable revival, the series could have been England’s for the taking. If the pattern of the game had continued to follow that of the first day, Ponting’s captaincy would now be under immediate threat. It hasn’t helped that Ponting went cheaply in Perth after failures in the first two Tests. He’s currently a batsman out of luck rather than out of form,” said Chappell.

On Michael Clarke, he said: “If Clarke doesn’t arrest this slide before the end of the series, the selectors will be loath to appoint him captain with such an ominous cloud hanging over his head.”

Haddin, on the other hand, has already had some success as captain of New South Wales and he’s a good, aggressive cricketer with an eye for what keeps the game moving forward, Chappel concluded. (ANI)