New cricket captain has more to do than win

We may never know whether Swisse Ultivites have side effects causing irritibility and obnoxiousness or whether Ricky Ponting was just cracking under the pressure of being a losing captain in a batting slump. Either way, the arrogance Ponting displayed over the last few years lost him and the Australian cricket team some of their biggest fans, including me.

Statistically, Ponting is possibly the greatest Australian cricketer ever – he has made the most Test runs and the most One Day International (ODI) runs of any Australian. He has the most ODI centuries of any Australian and the most ODI catches of any Australian. He is widely accepted to be the best fielder ever (perhaps second only to South African legend Jonty Rhodes). Under Ponting’s captaincy, Australia equaled the record of 16 straight Test wins. And he has won more Tests as captain than anyone, ever.

Yet the tears haven’t flowed for his resignation as they should for a cricketer with such an outstanding record. The way the Ponting led Australian team intimidated umpires by over-appealing and prolonging appeals has bought bad blood from opposing teams and fans. They maintained (and some say increased) the level of sledging on the field even after Darren Lehmann took it to its racist conclusion against Sri Lanka in 2003 and was banned for five matches. As captain, Ponting would hypocritically call foul on opposing teams for sledging or general bad sportsmanship and then allow his team to sledge and stand his ground when he knew he was out. Alan Border was quoted in the Herald Sun today saying that Ponting, “wears his heart on his sleeve”. Although Ponting was an incredibly exciting cricketer and a joy to watch, the belligerent captain hasn’t served the game well and shouldn’t have been selected for the captaincy in 2004.

To be fair, Ponting’s judgment was not always wrong. He did clearly demarcate himself from the racist outbursts of Perth cricket spectators in 2005, stating, “there’s no room in sport for racism whatsoever”. After a call from the Federation of Indian Students, Ponting shot a video expressing his opposition to the attacks on Indian students. With International cricket’s ability to rabidly breed nationalism and racism, cricketers have a responsibility to stand up to racism wherever they can have an impact. The entire team should have been a visible part of the campaign in support of the Indian students and fell short of their responsibilities.

New captain, Michael Clarke, has his work cut out - most obviously to turn around Australia’s fortunes with the bat and ball and try to re-build a young Australian team. Critics say Ponting was no tactician but Clarke should attempt to look beyond innovative field placements in his role. He should have the courage to change the polluted culture of the side. Reject the old traditions of intimidation and sledging (and beer races on board Qantas flights to London if they haven’t already) and lay the foundations for a serious cricket squad that can set the anti-racist, anti-bullying tone for junior cricketers around the country.