Ponting should give up captaincy to rediscover batting form: Blewett

MELBOURNE - Ricky Ponting may need to hand over the captaincy at the end of the Ashes series to rediscover his batting touch, according to former Australia batsman Greg Blewett.

Australia lost the fourth Test by an innings and 157 runs to go 2-1 down in the five-match series, and Ricky Ponting returned scores of 10 and 20 to leave him with only 113 runs from eight innings.

The pressure on the skipper has also increased, as he becomes the first Australianplayer to lose three Ashes series as captain.

Speaking on foxsports.com.au’s The Last Word podcast, Blewett said the pressure had become too much for Ponting to handle.

“I just think the longer the series has gone on, the more everything is messing with his head. I wonder whether everything is getting to him and whether at the end of this series it might time to just start playing as a player again,” Blewett said.

“And if that means giving up the captaincy, Test cricket, one-day cricket or whatever, it might just start to give him his mojo back. And he can start preparing how he wants to and just worry about his game.

“It just goes to show that it doesn’t matter what sort of record you have … at some stage this game can mess with your head a bit,” Blewett said.

After Ponting was dismissed cheaply on day one, Allan Border suggested on The Last Word that Australia’s captain should move down the order for the final years of his career. (ANI)