Ponting, 36, has captained the one-day team since 2002 and succeeded Steve Waugh in the Test team two years later. He hopes to continue as a batsman in both forms of the game.
Clarke, 29, and Ponting have struggled for runs the past year as Australia’s once vaunted team surrendered the Ashes in the winter then bowed out of the World Cup.
Nothing is more unbecoming in the world of cricket than a captain who has lost his calm. The game, deemed the glorious bastion of ‘gentlemen’, is often far from genteel in its manner.
If an organisation rots first from its head, then the captain’s behaviour is often indicative of a broader malaise.
England’s captain Mike Gatting provided a distinctly ugly side when England toured Pakistan in 1987. An altercation between Gatting and the umpire Shakoor Rana in Faisalabad led to delays in play after the captain exploded at Rana’s refusal to acknowledge Gatting’s catch.
Things rapidly got worse when Rana accused the pugnacious cricketer of cheating. In Rana’s words, ‘I cannot tell you what he did say but he used filthy language.’ Neither ever reconciled. It was not till the winter of 2000 that England toured Pakistan again.
Australia’s list of grumpy, cranky and offensive captains is a long one, but one can derive little joy from it.
Few can forget the Chapelli-orchestrated special of bowling and sledging, or Steve Waugh’s battle of attrition against opponents. Mental and physical erosion was the name of the Waugh game. But when one is winning, the stakes of good behaviour are less.
The focus becomes more acute on a side weakened by defeat. Enter then, the antics of Ricky Ponting, though on this occasion, he kept his antics off the pitch.
Simon Rice gave a colourful description in the Independent (Feb 22): ‘In an incident more sex, drugs and rock n roll than afternoon tea and cucumber sandwiches, cricketer Ricky Ponting stands accused of smashing a television set.’
The opening match of Australia’s campaign in the World Cup against Zimbabwe got more interesting when it was revealed that the captain, after being dismissed by a superb effort from Chris Mpofu, went back to his dressing room and promptly destroyed an LCD TV.
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