Ashes series loss: Ponting welcomes thorough review
By ANIMonday, January 10, 2011
SYDNEY - Australian cricket captain Ricky Ponting wants Australia’s failure to continue producing high-quality Test cricketers probed as part of a wide-ranging review into the dreadful Ashes campaign.
Questioning the strength of state cricket, Ponting also called for greater scrutiny of club and junior cricket, and added that he knew that vice-captain Michael Clarke and he would be asked performance-related questions in the days to come.
The Daily Telegraph quoted Ponting, as saying that the 3-1 loss to England required a review that was as big as any held during the dark days of the mid-1980s.
“It’s going to be a lot more in-depth review than I’ve ever been involved in and probably as big as those conducted when Australia was really struggling in the mid-80s,” Ponting said.
He added: “There are a lot of things that need looking at and I fully support such a review. The performance of the elite team over the last few weeks has been very disappointing. But I think it’s important we look a fair bit deeper into Australian cricket than just the last couple of weeks. It’s going to be really interesting to see what the review brings up.
While the Cricket Australia board will not formally constitute a review until its next scheduled meeting on February 8, chief executive James Sutherland has firm ideas.
“From where I sit, it’s very important that we have people from outside the inner-circle of Cricket Australia and Australian cricket,” Sutherland told ABC Radio.
He added: “We will have cricket expertise in there but also it is good to have expertise in other areas and other sports.” (ANI)
