Possible campaign to remove Ponting from test captainicy by Sydney Morning Herald

[LIONS then DAYLIGHT]

Possible campaign to remove Ponting from test captainicy by Sydney Morning Herald

Anyone else get the feeling that the SMH is trying to drum up a campaign to have Ponting removed from the captainicy, no doubt to have the chosen one to replace him.

A bit of background information is needed here as well. When Steve Waugh was under seige in late 2002 some papers drummed up a campaign to get him sacked while other publications when the opposite direction to try and get him retained. Waugh mentions it in his biography for those who are still sceptical.

I noticed this as far back as the South African one day series earlier this year in South Africa, when Roebuck continually panned Ponting's tactics and alluded to the suggestion that Clarke would be a better choice as captain. Australia lost the series 3-2.

Im not going to dreged up articles, but basically Roebuck earlier this year tried to paint a picture that Clarke was always running around with ideas in the field but Ponting continually kept to a tried and true format.

How Roebuck would know this from the grandstands, or even the couch, has got be stuffed.

Roebucks campaing soon faded as soon as it started.

However it has started again in his latest article.

Have a look at these quotes.

Australian cricket needs to face facts. Apologists and insiders point out Australian batsmen scored more runs and the bowlers took more wickets than their Ashes counterparts, and conclude they were short-changed to lose the series. Defeat is blamed on two poor sessions. It is gibberish, a mere smokescreen. Test series are played over 25 days, and produce a legitimate result. That is their entire purpose. England were the better side in Birmingham and twice in London. The result was fair. Andrew Strauss and company deserved to win. No good will come of supposing otherwise. Bleating is a poor substitute for action.

LtD's Comments

As far as im concerned the Ashes were lost in two disgraceful batting performances, in the first innings at Lords and again at the Oval.

Both of these were late on day 2, in unfavourable conditions - Lords in heavy cloud cover, and the Oval after the pitch had been juiced up by a squall.

It doesn't excuse the batting performance's but it has to be considered.

No-one at all is bleating about the result, Ponting said the better team won - most here acknowledge that we weren't good enough when it counted. Conversely losing one series does not mean you purge half your team - especially one which as closely contested and could have easily gone either way.

That is commonsense.

Why exactly Roebuck is harking back nearly 3 months is beyond me?

Admittedly, the selectors had been proved right about Nathan Hauritz. He's become a better bowler than most thought possible. Ponting's mishandling of spinners has not helped. Jason Krejza was not given much chance in Perth. Despite his figures, he's bowling well this season. He's been badly advised

Surely 'admittedly' is Roebucks favourite word, along with 'leather flingers'.

The notion that Krejza was not given much of a chance due to Ponting's 'mishandling' of 'spinners' is also puzzling. Once again, bear in mind we are going back all but a year in time. Why is this relevant now?

Krejza was given nearly 50 overs in Perth, for figures of 1 - 200 odd. Hardly suggesting 'mishandling', if anything he was overbowled yet he failed to exert any influence on the game other then serving up 4 runs an over.

Krezja is a pie thrower, evey now and then I come across bowlers at club level, state level and international level that look like they are going to get a bag of wickets everytime they bowl but they never do, not through lack of effort, but just through lack of ability. The more I see of Krezja the more i think he fits this category.

Overall, the entire article can be read here, it is a curious read and not one of Roebuck's better pieces.

Selectors can't afford any more slip-ups - Cricket - Sport - smh.com.au

I think this thread should be stickied as the offical Australian summer media thread.

It's purpose will be to track media articles and follow the trends in reporting journalism.

Roebuck has kicked the ball off with a shot at Ponting.

 

[a for effort]

Re: Possible campaign to remove Ponting from test captainicy by Sydney Morning Herald

Roebuck doesn't know anything about anything, other than the fact that he hates Australia and hates Ponting even more.

He is the kind of journo that looks out the window, sees rain, and seriously contemplates penning a 'WEATHER IS BAD JUST LIKE PONTINGS CAPTAINCY' article.

 

[Caesar]

Re: Possible campaign to remove Ponting from test captainicy by Sydney Morning Herald

I don't think "Roebuck's inane ramblings" = "campaign by SMH to remove Ponting".

He's been doing this for years, nothing new. Opinion writers are paid to be controversial, Roebuck is just nuttier than most.

 

[LIONS then DAYLIGHT]

Re: Possible campaign to remove Ponting from test captainicy by Sydney Morning Herald

His latest article is one that argues that White's chances of captaining his country increase with "every passing month" - of course Roebuck then quantifies this statement by saying that White has to get his first class average above 42 (why so precise). Which is a pretty big disclaimer considering that White would be no-where near a starting berth as a top 7 batsmen in the test side.

Of course when discussing future captains, Roebuck cant resist a dig at Ponting

He has survived two Ashes defeats, a brain freeze in Nagpur and a debacle at The Oval. Nothing worse can happen. His captaincy has been a mixed bag

he has little feel for the game, and is a dud with spinners. Of all the great batsmen of the modern era, though, Brian Lara, Sachin Tendulkar, Jacques Kallis and Rahul Dravid, he has been the best captain.

The comment about spinners is strange, im 99.99% positive last summer that I read a piece from Roebuck stating the opposite. That Ponting had "astute" fields for the spinners but could sometimes be to conventional with the seamers.

Of course Roebuck can't finish the article without a link to Ponting's well known links from a rough part of Lanceston, not surprising considering Roebuck's cambridge education.

Clarke has been groomed to take over when the Mowbray man withdraws. Only his body can prevent him so doing

The notion that Clarke will not eventually be test captain is absurd. I know there is a lot of talk about Ponting going around again to England in 4 years time, but a successful ashes campaign this time next year could well offer a perfect chance to retire from all forms of the game after the world cup which follows immediately. In which Ponting is likely to have a one in a lifetime chance of leading his team to 3 straight world cup wins.

I know Roebuck has articles to right, but surely he could right about things that are nearly upon us, rather then guessing what is going to happen years down the track.

Surely we can go one article without slagging off Ponting as well.

 

[courtjester]

Re: Possible campaign to remove Ponting from test captainicy by Sydney Morning Herald

Which is a pretty big disclaimer considering that White would be no-where near a starting berth as a top 7 batsmen in the test side.

White is better than a lot of people give him credit for. His FC record is far superior to Fergussons, and I think people forget he is only 26yo.

I agree with the comments on Roebuck. Fact is Ponting is a good captain who has lost two very close series in England.

 

[Mark Waugh]

Re: Possible campaign to remove Ponting from test captainicy by Sydney Morning Herald

Clarke definitely is not a shoe in for the captaincy. If he can't be a regular player then there is serious doubts.

 

[Boris]

Re: Possible campaign to remove Ponting from test captainicy by Sydney Morning Herald

As much as I don't like him, I think Clarke wouldn't be half bad to captain the Test side, but not the other ones, he shouldn't even be in those sides.

If White gets it all right from, I would like to throw him an unsuspected captaincy before Clarke. Those sort of captaincies generally pay off if the player is right, just like the Graeme Smith style.

Who else is there to captain?

 

[Mark Waugh]

Re: Possible campaign to remove Ponting from test captainicy by Sydney Morning Herald

As much as I don't like him, I think Clarke wouldn't be half bad to captain the Test side, but not the other ones, he shouldn't even be in those sides.

If White gets it all right from, I would like to throw him an unsuspected captaincy before Clarke. Those sort of captaincies generally pay off if the player is right, just like the Graeme Smith style.

Who else is there to captain?

Wouldn't White have to break into the Test squad before he could be considered as captain?

 

[Boris]

Re: Possible campaign to remove Ponting from test captainicy by Sydney Morning Herald

Wouldn't White have to break into the Test squad before he could be considered as captain?

Yes he would, but that's the point I was making.

If a spot opens now and he gets in and gets some good scores and acts nicely to the board, even if he is pushed back out of the side because he was replacing an injured person or something, he has had that sniff. If he pushes and pushes he will get some games somewhere and hopefully cement his spot by the time Ponting retires.

I have seen this style of captaincy placement a couple of times where the country gives a young up and comer the captaincy surprisingly and throws every other nation off and this young bloke has years of time to ply and hone his trade, with someone like Clarke staying as vice captain to help him along the way.

This is a REALLY long shot, but it has happened before, like the way Graeme Smith was given the captaincy of the Saffas, so don't rule it out.

 

[Sober Symonds]

Re: Possible campaign to remove Ponting from test captainicy by Sydney Morning Herald

For once I agree with your line of thinking, Boris. I will stop short of saying that's what they will do, but it's not the worst idea of all. The team is going to be in another "rebuilding" type of phase after Ponting, Hussey, and no doubt one or two others. It often works so well when they can all start their journey together, and grow together. Clarke will no doubt be the man, but whether it's injuries, innings of substance or media/relationship distractions, I am not convinced he is what we need.

LtD & co, I think you're taking Roebuck's opinion a bit to heart. He is a fantastic cricket writer, and although his views are sometimes very "English", he knows the game and its characters very well. Having said that, I'm a Ponting fan. He is simply pointing out some shortcomings in the man's leadership, which like it or not are a fact of life. He is still improving from what he was, but he's no Chappell, Border or Taylor.

As Caesar mentions, Roebuck is paid to write stuff people will read. If he just nodded with acceptance to whatever the team achieves, why would anyone bother with what he says? Leave it to the locally-based scribes to make excuses for the national team when we lose close series due to a couple of things which "could have" gone the other way.

You have to recognise, he has to come up with an article every day over summer and we aren't always going to like what he has to say.

 

[Boris]

Re: Possible campaign to remove Ponting from test captainicy by Sydney Morning Herald

Roebuck is writing factual stuff about Ponting, mostly. It's just that he always forgets to include the good stuff that he has done for his country, a very one sided argument he puts forward.

When reading his articles, read it for what it is, then add all of Ponting's greatness into it and then it makes perfect sense.

 

[Thumbs up]

Re: Possible campaign to remove Ponting from test captainicy by Sydney Morning Herald

It has reached the point that he is a parody of himself and if something even remotely controversial...scratch that the most controversial thing in the last five days must be blown way out of proportion . If he were half right about half the things he writes then, by now, the world would have ended many times over. He is part of the media who don't seem to need a story to happen to report on it.

 

[Boris]

Re: Possible campaign to remove Ponting from test captainicy by Sydney Morning Herald

Hahahaha I didn't even know who this guy was before this thread, and now I'm reading some of his articles I either want to blow my computer up or laugh for ages.

 

[Thumbs up]

Re: Possible campaign to remove Ponting from test captainicy by Sydney Morning Herald

If you need some unbiased opinions of him then see what botham and Mark Nicholas have to say.

 

[LIONS then DAYLIGHT]

Re: Possible campaign to remove Ponting from test captainicy by Sydney Morning Herald

Any links, I found an article written in 2005 during the Ashes series by Ian Botham after Roebuck claimed that Flintoff's action was somewhat suscept. Unfortunately, the article is one of those which you have to pay for, otherwise you can only read the first few lines. However, even from that you are immediately in no doubt exactly what Botham thinks of Roebuck.

 

[Thumbs up]

Re: Possible campaign to remove Ponting from test captainicy by Sydney Morning Herald

Any links, I found an article written in 2005 during the Ashes series by Ian Botham after Roebuck claimed that Flintoff's action was somewhat suscept. Unfortunately, the article is one of those which you have to pay for, otherwise you can only read the first few lines. However, even from that you are immediately in no doubt exactly what Botham thinks of Roebuck.

I’ll try and find something, but they despise each other.

 

[Thumbs up]

Re: Possible campaign to remove Ponting from test captainicy by Sydney Morning Herald

I can see it now...
... Bolllingers behaviour was terrible and all the result of Pontings Captaincy.

I am unable to watch the game but listen online. Roebuk seems very uncomfortable when past player join the commentary team and talk highly of Ponting. I have little doubt that they get in the box with that intention.

 

[LIONS then DAYLIGHT]

Re: Possible campaign to remove Ponting from test captainicy by Sydney Morning Herald

Why wouldn't he?

He slams Ponting at every chance.

 

[Sober Symonds]

Re: Possible campaign to remove Ponting from test captainicy by Sydney Morning Herald

I guess a lot of it comes from the way he is perceived in England. To them, the Australians are an aggressive, win-at-all-costs outfit, and if they ever beat Australia they're not going to hold back in letting us know about it. Fair enough.

In Ponting they see the very same thing, and if he gets it wrong you can count on an Englishman reminding him of where he went wrong. It's twice now that Australia has lost on their shores with Punter in charge. That hasn't happened too often. Of course he's easy pickings for them, and he has to wear that. We all do.

What makes it worse are the hints of ungraciousness that creep into Ponting's response as losing captain. Whether it's him, his players or the media, excuses are thrown up rather than accepting the fact that his team were outplayed ... or that perhaps he was outcaptained. We don't see it the way they do. It doesn't come across well if you're one of those down-trodden teams who have for so long had to put up with being crushed under Australia's relentless might.

Ponting has his critics at home. He has improved no question, but there's the legacy of numerous narrow series losses he has to put up with, like it or not.

 

[LIONS then DAYLIGHT]

Re: Possible campaign to remove Ponting from test captainicy by Sydney Morning Herald

I've never seen excuses thrown up from Ponting after a series has been lost - rather just honest observations. He has never blamed umpires - and there is no doubt umpiring in the most recent Ashes series was deplorable at times, while the impact of umpiring in the 2005 Ashes was just as significant.

Conversely, the treatment Ponting has recieved at times from Australian based journos has been disgraceful, some of the stuff printed this time last year was a case in point.

I have said it many times before, only after Ponting retires will we truly recognize what a great batsmen he was and what a determined captain he was.