Ponting had doubts over Michael Clarke captaincy
14 Oct 2013 6:04 AM IST
Ponting, who stood down after nine years in the post in 2011, said the concerns over his successor-designate and vice captain - who he called ‘Pup’ - had prevented him from considering resigning earlier.
‘It wasn’t that he was disruptive or treacherous and publicly he said all the right things,’ Ponting said in an extract from his autobiography, ‘At The Close Of Play’, serialised in the Herald Sun newspaper. ‘But he had never been one to get too involved in planning sessions or debriefs at the end of a day’s play, or to volunteer to take on any of the captain’s workload. ‘More than once, (coach) Tim Nielsen and I had encouraged him to take on more of a leadership role within the group, but when Pup was down on form or if he had a problem away from cricket, he’d go into his shell.
‘I knew he was an excellent thinker on the game, but for a long time I was concerned that he wouldn’t be able to handle the huge variety of ‘little things’ that go with being Australian captain.’ Those feelings had been compounded by the way Clarke distanced himself from the team as he became more and more involved in a celebrity lifestyle off the field.
‘Pup remained a good trainer and we could all see that he loved playing for Australia and was determined to do well,’ Ponting recalled. ‘But away from cricket, he moved in a different world to the rest of us.’
‘It wasn’t that he was disruptive or treacherous and publicly he said all the right things,’ Ponting said in an extract from his autobiography, ‘At The Close Of Play’, serialised in the Herald Sun newspaper. ‘But he had never been one to get too involved in planning sessions or debriefs at the end of a day’s play, or to volunteer to take on any of the captain’s workload. ‘More than once, (coach) Tim Nielsen and I had encouraged him to take on more of a leadership role within the group, but when Pup was down on form or if he had a problem away from cricket, he’d go into his shell.
‘I knew he was an excellent thinker on the game, but for a long time I was concerned that he wouldn’t be able to handle the huge variety of ‘little things’ that go with being Australian captain.’ Those feelings had been compounded by the way Clarke distanced himself from the team as he became more and more involved in a celebrity lifestyle off the field.
‘Pup remained a good trainer and we could all see that he loved playing for Australia and was determined to do well,’ Ponting recalled. ‘But away from cricket, he moved in a different world to the rest of us.’
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