Australian captain Ricky Ponting is buoyant despite the several injury setbacks that have rocked Australia's World Cup Campaign even before its start. Michael Hussey, Nathan Hauritz, Ryan Harris, Clint McKay, Shaun Marsh, Xavier Doherty have not succeeded to make place in 15 – man squad due to either fresh injuries or one that did not recover in time. However, Ponting is very optimistic and was not complaining about them.
Ponting said that he would not really care where we start the tournament. It is totally immaterial, to speak the truth. I know there are some doubts concerning with our side. At the last World Cup, there was a fair bit of negativity about our squad but we showed best performance.
Ponting who is playing his fifth and last world cup, felt the 6 – 1 series victory against England had eradicated the Ashes sadness, putting the players in the right frame of mind ahead of big tournament. Now we are in good form and acquired confidence and momentum around our team.
Ponting admitted that he would really miss Hussey especially with the left – hander's incredible skill to absorb the pressure down the batting order and play the finisher's act stylishly. But the Australian selectors were skeptical about pushing forward Hussey's case even though the player himself said later he was expecting to be included. Losing Hussey is a huge loss to our setup. Jason Krejza, who made his ODI debut in the last match of the England series, was another player Ponting had a lot of faith in. He will appreciate bowling in these conditions at sub-continent. Ponting said Krejza could play a crucial role if he bowled according to the situation on the slower pitches in the subcontinent, where slow bowlers have a wider say, especially in the crucial middle overs.
No comments:
Post a Comment