Ricky Ponting Serves Ashes Warning After Australia Crash Out of Twenty20
Ricky Ponting is confident Australia's early elimination will not affect their Ashes campaign
Australia crashed out of World Twenty20 at the qualifying stage last night but the inquest was due to end as soon as the clocks struck midnight. Today the emphasis will switch to the Ashes series as they attempt to turn their Twenty20 failure into an advantage.
England will be looking for signs of collapsing confidence, even paranoia, following Australia's two defeats in World Twenty20 – Sri Lanka following the example set by West Indies on Saturday in winning by six wickets with anover to spare. Australia's captain, Ricky Ponting, is adamant that England will be wasting their time.
"Our Test cricket has been the shining light during the past few months," he said, recalling their series win in South Africa which re-established them as the leading Test side in the world. "Our one-day form hasn't been terrific. We will have a quick chat about where our Twenty20 cricket is at tonight and then we will have to move on because we have some Test matches just around the corner.
"The Twenty20 players will be out of here pretty soon and I guess that, when they leave, then we have to focus on Test cricket because there will be nothing else to talk about. It will be my job to make sure we get over this loss pretty quickly.
"I have never been a big one about believing in success carrying from one series to another, particularly when it is different forms of the game. We have a vast changeover of players for the Ashes and, when they get here, it will be about rebuilding some of the good stuff that we had going on when we won in South Africa. There will be no better place to be in England, getting caught up in the excitement of the Ashes."
A week must elapse before the rest of Australia's Ashes squad arrives; it is a fortnight before they begin their build-up to the five-Test series with a game against Sussex at Hove. It is long enough to suffer from net fever and there are no indications that the England and Wales Cricket Board is about to offer them an additional fixture.
Though England have reached the Super Eights stage in World Twenty20 Ponting was not about to tip them for success; no self-respecting Ashes captain does that. "India have a very good chance of winning; West Indies can be very dangerous; we saw what the Sri Lankans can do if they get conditions that suit their spin bowlers; South Africa have a very well-rounded side in this form of the game. I think the winner will probably come from one of those four,'' he said.
England will be looking for signs of collapsing confidence, even paranoia, following Australia's two defeats in World Twenty20 – Sri Lanka following the example set by West Indies on Saturday in winning by six wickets with anover to spare. Australia's captain, Ricky Ponting, is adamant that England will be wasting their time.
"Our Test cricket has been the shining light during the past few months," he said, recalling their series win in South Africa which re-established them as the leading Test side in the world. "Our one-day form hasn't been terrific. We will have a quick chat about where our Twenty20 cricket is at tonight and then we will have to move on because we have some Test matches just around the corner.
"The Twenty20 players will be out of here pretty soon and I guess that, when they leave, then we have to focus on Test cricket because there will be nothing else to talk about. It will be my job to make sure we get over this loss pretty quickly.
"I have never been a big one about believing in success carrying from one series to another, particularly when it is different forms of the game. We have a vast changeover of players for the Ashes and, when they get here, it will be about rebuilding some of the good stuff that we had going on when we won in South Africa. There will be no better place to be in England, getting caught up in the excitement of the Ashes."
A week must elapse before the rest of Australia's Ashes squad arrives; it is a fortnight before they begin their build-up to the five-Test series with a game against Sussex at Hove. It is long enough to suffer from net fever and there are no indications that the England and Wales Cricket Board is about to offer them an additional fixture.
Though England have reached the Super Eights stage in World Twenty20 Ponting was not about to tip them for success; no self-respecting Ashes captain does that. "India have a very good chance of winning; West Indies can be very dangerous; we saw what the Sri Lankans can do if they get conditions that suit their spin bowlers; South Africa have a very well-rounded side in this form of the game. I think the winner will probably come from one of those four,'' he said.
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