Ricky Ponting - Back him or Sack him?

[Topdog]

Re: Ricky Ponting - Back him or Sack him?

You forget to mention that Katich went on and made 113, 36 and 157 for the rest of the series (lets ignore the facts shall we?) if Hodge had gone on and got a ton,

All well and good but Hodge didn't get the chance for the rest of the series. Hodge got the 3rd most runs for Australia in that test and got dropped. I'm not saying he would have been some kind of savior but he is a good example of Ricky playing games.

And and as the sample of 10 innings was used by you before for Hodge, Damian got 252 in his first 10 innings.

[lemmon]

Re: Ricky Ponting - Back him or Sack him?

All well and good but Hodge didn't get the chance for the rest of the series. Hodge got the 3rd most runs for Australia in that test and got dropped. I'm not saying he would have been some kind of savior but he is a good example of Ricky playing games.

And and as the sample of 10 innings was used by you before for Hodge, Damian got 252 in his first 10 innings.

Fair enough, although Damien was a 21 one year old debutant picked on potential, a guy debuting at Hodges age doesnt get the same liberties, they are expected to come in and perform immediately, its probably unfair but they are the circumstances. Christian Howards performances this year are obviously going to be treated with more leeway then Brodie Moles were this year. Hodge was given a chance due to injury, he shouldve made himself undroppable when he had the chance and gone on with that 60, unfortunately he didnt, Clarke came back, got a ton and the rest is history.

[Sedat]

Re: Ricky Ponting - Back him or Sack him?

Fair enough, although Damien was a 21 one year old debutant picked on potential, a guy debuting at Hodges age doesnt get the same liberties, they are expected to come in and perform immediately, its probably unfair but they are the circumstances. Christian Howards performances this year are obviously going to be treated with more leeway then Brodie Moles were this year. Hodge was given a chance due to injury, he shouldve made himself undroppable when he had the chance and gone on with that 60, unfortunately he didnt, Clarke came back, got a ton and the rest is history.

What does Clarke have to do with this argument? Hodge was replaced by Martyn, an older player who was in horrible form and who retired from all forms of cricket less than 12 months later. It was an astonishingly poor and short-sighted decision at the time, as proven by Martyn's abrupt retirement not long after, and denied a 50 test career to a player that a) thoroughly deserved it and b) performed with distinction in the test arena when given the rare chance to do so. If he was a Ponting acolyte he would still be in the team today.

Hodge has not been the only Australian player desperately unlucky not to have played many more test innings for Australia, but it is frankly churlish to suggest that he didn't deserve a much better run and that he didn't perform well in his limited time in the national team. And the suggestion that Hodge has constantly whinged about his non-selection is also incorrect - he has admirably bitten his tongue up until this Summer and only started to pipe up as a retired first-class cricketer making some valid points about the gross inconsistency in selection policies from player to player. God knows the nation team could have used the poise and natural talent of what should have been a 50 test veteran to bolster up what has proven to be a very shoddy batting line-up. At least it was full of 'good blokes' and mates of Punter

[Sockeye Salmon]

Re: Ricky Ponting - Back him or Sack him?

What does Clarke have to do with this argument? Hodge was replaced by Martyn, an older player who was in horrible form and who retired from all forms of cricket less than 12 months later. It was an astonishingly poor and short-sighted decision at the time, as proven by Martyn's abrupt retirement not long after, and denied a 50 test career to a player that a) thoroughly deserved it and b) performed with distinction in the test arena when given the rare chance to do so. If he was a Ponting acolyte he would still be in the team today.

Wasn't Martyn best man at Ponting's wedding?

[The Pie Man]

Re: Ricky Ponting - Back him or Sack him?

Martyn's form in the Pura Cup to "earn" his spot back was actually appalling, in fact the bullshit excuse of Hodge being dropped for the tour due to poor domestic form was even more laughable given Martyn's form was worse. Of course Martyn in his usual self centered way repaid the favour by retiring via text message half way through the Aussie summer. What a bloke!

Hodge did play another test in the West Indies- he made 67 & 27, Katich made 12 & 1, but don't worry about the facts.

Hodge is just an example of how Ponting is THE chairman of selectors because I know for a fact what happened in that situation. I also knew Bollinger wasn't playing in the first test about 5 days before it was announced due to Ponting wanting his mates in the team. I'm not going to give the details on here, but take my word for it the selectors had no say in it.

Tough batting conditions in a tight test that we just got over the line in too. Important knocks for memory (we won by 95 runs)

There was a chat live with Robert Craddock eartlier in the week on the HS website, he got asked about Hauritz and Crash said something to the effect of 'Ponting wanted him to bowl outside off stump in the rough in India, Hauritz disagreed and unfortunately they fell out over it'

So that's it - Punter may never play another test again, and while I'm not a huge Hauritz fan, he was improving and would have a few more years to come if given another opportunity..but it seems not with Ponting as captain.

What's the deal?

[lemmon]

Re: Ricky Ponting - Back him or Sack him?

What does Clarke have to do with this argument? Hodge was replaced by Martyn, an older player who was in horrible form and who retired from all forms of cricket less than 12 months later. It was an astonishingly poor and short-sighted decision at the time, as proven by Martyn's abrupt retirement not long after, and denied a 50 test career to a player that a) thoroughly deserved it and b) performed with distinction in the test arena when given the rare chance to do so. If he was a Ponting acolyte he would still be in the team today.

Hodge has not been the only Australian player desperately unlucky not to have played many more test innings for Australia, but it is frankly churlish to suggest that he didn't deserve a much better run and that he didn't perform well in his limited time in the national team. And the suggestion that Hodge has constantly whinged about his non-selection is also incorrect - he has admirably bitten his tongue up until this Summer and only started to pipe up as a retired first-class cricketer making some valid points about the gross inconsistency in selection policies from player to player. God knows the nation team could have used the poise and natural talent of what should have been a 50 test veteran to bolster up what has proven to be a very shoddy batting line-up. At least it was full of 'good blokes' and mates of Punter

I was talking about Hodges final test in the West Indies when he was covering for an injured Clarke. At no point have I said that Hodge was unlucky to not play more test cricket, I dont see how you could blame Martyn though for being picked in the side and he did win us that final test in South Africa so his form wasnt as poor as you make out. Hodge was given opportunities, granted he wasnt as persisted with as some other have been but he had the opportunity to make himself undroppable as Hussey was able to do and look how there respective careers have fared. It has to come to a point where eyes must be turned inward, some of his recent comments have been frankly bitter, which is a sad way to see him finish.

[Mantis]

Re: Ricky Ponting - Back him or Sack him?

I was talking about Hodges final test in the West Indies when he was covering for an injured Clarke. At no point have I said that Hodge was unlucky to not play more test cricket, I dont see how you could blame Martyn though for being picked in the side and he did win us that final test in South Africa so his form wasnt as poor as you make out. Hodge was given opportunities, granted he wasnt as persisted with as some other have been but he had the opportunity to make himself undroppable as Hussey was able to do and look how there respective careers have fared. It has to come to a point where eyes must be turned inward, some of his recent comments have been frankly bitter, which is a sad way to see him finish.

Fair go... He was dropped 2 games after making a double century.

It was assumed he would fail due to being suspect outside the off stump, but he was given the opportunity to fail like many others have been & are.

[Greystache]

Re: Ricky Ponting - Back him or Sack him?

You forget to mention that Katich went on and made 113, 36 and 157 for the rest of the series (lets ignore the facts shall we?) if Hodge had gone on and got a ton, he would have made it impossible to be dropped, unfortunately he didnt and you cant blame the selectors for that.

Martyn had a fantastic series in South Africa, averaged 56.25 and his hundred won the third test, he fully justified his selection, no matter how he got it. Hodge had his chance, he should have made himself untouchable when he got it but he didnt. I cant comment on your 'inside knowledge', either nut up and post it or dont mention it at all.

Most of this has been covered already by others so I won't go into too much detail.

No I didn't, but I'm happy to concede that Katich made more than Hodge in tests that Hodge didn't play in if that helps? It's irrelevant, Hodge made 67 & 27, Katich made 12 & 1, Hodge got dropped. I don't see why a ton would've helped, he got dropped 1 test after making a 200 (incidently he got dropped in the WC in the West Indies the game after he did in fact make a hundred).

You're easily pleased if you consider Martyn's tour of SA "fantastic" 22, 9*, 57, 15*, 21, 101. Again it's irrelevant, his selection was based on being Ponting's best mate. His 10 innings prior to his recall netted a whopping 216 @ 21.6, and as I said earlier, his form in Pura cup cricket was worse than Hodge's.

I was talking about Hodges final test in the West Indies when he was covering for an injured Clarke. At no point have I said that Hodge was unlucky to not play more test cricket, I dont see how you could blame Martyn though for being picked in the side and he did win us that final test in South Africa so his form wasnt as poor as you make out. Hodge was given opportunities, granted he wasnt as persisted with as some other have been but he had the opportunity to make himself undroppable as Hussey was able to do and look how there respective careers have fared. It has to come to a point where eyes must be turned inward, some of his recent comments have been frankly bitter, which is a sad way to see him finish.

I don't blame Martyn, if my best mate got me a spot on a tour I didn't earn (and the $300,000 tour money to go with it) I would take it too. If you remember that match winning innings so well, you may recall that he got his hundred, celebrated like we'd won the test, then threw his wicket away almost the next ball with a concious free swipe. Leaving us needing another 36 runs with only Clark and Kasprowicz to come, fortunately Brett Lee got us home, but that's just the sort of team player Martyn was.

Martyn's last 20 innings in test cricket (including his fantastic tour of SA) totalled 281 runs. Hodge's last 10 were 503 @ 55.88, but that's not undroppable somehow?

Wasn't Martyn best man at Ponting's wedding?

Ponting was Martyn's best man.

[Topdog]

Re: Ricky Ponting - Back him or Sack him?

wow that is some good pawn

[Sockeye Salmon]

Re: Ricky Ponting - Back him or Sack him?

Ponting was Martyn's best man.

That is the greatest arse suck effort of all time.

[Greystache]

Re: Ricky Ponting - Back him or Sack him?

The Times in the UK were reporting that Ponting was planning to retire from all forms of cricket at Australia's conclusion of the World Cup. Good old Ricky has shot them down, he's insisting he'll be on the tour to Bangladesh and will continue on after that. He will have to be physically removed from that team if he's ever to finish up!