In My opinion Mr.Ponting is still the best person to lead Australian team, talking about Clark as a captian dosent seems likely, as without any captaincy burden hes not able to perform well, captaincy burden might will prove to be end of his career, Despite Pointing's bad run as a captain, hes still a legend and no one in australian side has more experiance then him, or is as great as Mr. pointing, Just an ashes loss is not enough to remove this legend as a captain. He must stay as captain.

I absolutely agree. Ponting should stay as a captain and lead this side till it gains the confidence to win and comes out molded properly. Theres a lot left with him to offer to his young side. Wonder vahow whoever criticizes him and asks him to step down, cannot come up with a single name to captain this side except for some rubbish proposals in the form of White or Haddin. Haddin might be the next best option available after Clarke, but they need to identify a much solid and creditable name before Ponting leaves. But Ponting have to get to his best by moving down the order. He could move down the order in the up coming world cup and try it in the initial games against the minnows or against teams of the likes of NZ or weaker bowling attacks and get the feeling of batting down the order. Later he could build on it. I am sure he will get to his best and will prevail till the next Ashes in Australia. Come on Ponting you need to get it back in Australia and we know you could.

I feel Ponting realy deserve some respect. He is the most successful captain in the history of the Game. i would say persist him as full time captian in both forms becasue i feel clakre or any other player in the side not capable of replacing him. GIVE HIM BOWLER HE WILL TURN IT FOR YOU

Ponting as a captain is very great. But he has tremendous attitude problem and over confidence in him which affects the entire team in their performance.. He should change his behaviour.

I beg to differ!
History has given us many examples of highly successful captains and sustainable teams - most of such teams were built on new ideas, young players and with hard work and over time.
young players must come into the team, then better let the new captain play a role in building his team otherwise there will be another transition phase when pointing actually leaves.

At the moment Ponting is still a right candidates to retain the captaincy till the world cup.Although currently Australia rank 5th in Test cricket,Its still no 1 in One dayers.One Day cricket doesnt required Class and Technique but Talent and Skill.Another aspect his apart After Ponting no one seems to be right person to lead Oz form wise or tactics wise

yes, Ponting must be the captain for Aussie, for the next 2 years,
Chappel is very much over reacted on ponting's issue, but every one has ups and downs in one's carrer, but it doesn't seem that he must out of team. Ponting must back to team, and will've to win fourth consecutive world cup of ODI.

iaccording to me,mr ricky is the best captain of the decade n he still got the potential to lead the oz.but the main problemis that he can lead only and he can make the team as the best team in a match if his player will perform.like in this ashes,except hussy,haddin and mich,no oz player has any signifacnt role.but time will show this is the best man ..

Yes, there is no doubt that Ponting should retain his captaincy. He is one of the best leaders in world cricket that have ever produced. He is suffering from tremendous pressure from CA, fans around Aus,
its just the matter of time till the young player pave their way for aus. just have faith in the leader n believe in yourself and i promise punter magic will come in act once again. If the whole team is not performing well in bowling as well as batting department there is nothing that a skipper can help.
Lets see what happens when he bats down the order.
I think No 4 will be best for him with khwaja or watson at 3.

u wanna hear this
he should step down as skipper

Ponting has been a tremendous figure for the Aussies over the years,but its high time he calls it quits. It has been a wonderful career and to leave it in disgrace would be a shame. Remember Sourav Ganguly-sacked as a captain in disgrace, but atleast decided the terms of his own test retirement,and did it with style. Ponting may have it in him for a last and final heave but must then leave the legacy for the youngsters to follow. Lets look at teams like SA(identifying and choosing Graeme Smith as capt early on, his team- now built on a sturdy platform is no 2),India recognised Dhoni as soon as Dravid stepped down, and now look at his track record, I believe it speaks for itself.
Choose a tremendous player with a calm head on his shoulders and back him to grow with his team, a wonderful transition stage for Australia at the end of which they recognise their potential as a nation ready for World Domination once again.
Just BTW after the next WC- coz that belongs to India

The whole Australian team needs a SERIOUS shakeup. The players should be picked on PERFORMANCE, not potential, or because they are a crowd favourite or for any other reason. The players need to know that if they fail, there is someone pushing them for their spot. Michael Clarke, on performance, should be dropped IMMEDIATELY. That doesn't mean that he can't fight his way back in with some top performances at Sheffield Shield level. The way it goes in Australia, is that you get selected until you get dropped and never get back in again. Enough of that. There are enough top flight players in the ranks who would love the chance to prove themselves at the highest level. Unfortunately in this country, MOST OF THEM WILL NEVER GET THE CHANCE, due to the selection policies. That is why we have a PATHETIC team at the moment. Just look at the latest disgraceful batting performance from the top order. It has happened SO often that we have come to expect a top order collapse.

Guys, let Aussies take a hard look. As in financial markets, yesterday's glories are history. What next. If he is still a good bat keep him. As captain, expiry date is over. Hang on to him and we will see Kapil Dev like caricatures (extending his unwelcome stay)in Oz. Captains are like Prime ministers, you can't keep them again as a provincial level chief minister or a cabinet minister. They are OUT.

i agree. ponting needs to come down to no 5 in both tests and odi. no need to give up odi. with age catching up to him, he has at most 2 yrs in him. so giving up odi means he would only play handful of tests (he may as well call it quits now!). one major thing he needs to change is to stop his tendancy of backing players he likes as person rather than cricketing abilities. North a big case in question!

There is one more thing Ponting must give up - acting as an umpire on the field. He has enough on his hands being the captain and the most skilled batsman of his team. Why take up additional responsibilities?

Ricky Ponting should be reinstated as the Australian captain once he is fit to play. Michael Clarke's current form is pathetic and it would be a huge relief to himself and his fans, if he manages to reach double figures. As for Shane Watson, he does not have the mental strength to concentrate enough to turn 40s and 50s to three figure scores. Michael Hussey has come good in the current series except failing in a few innings. Overall, the batting has been the weakest almost the entire series and the selectors should take the blame for persisting with the likes of Marcus North and Michael Clarke even after seeing them fare so poorly.

On the selections for this test: What part of the word "must" do these fools not understand? Hauritz and Bollinger were both "musts" for this test. It is the home ground of both players and Hauritz's figures with bat and ball absolutely DEMANDED he be picked. Clarke should NEVER have been picked, much less given the captaincy. Neither Beer nor Hughes should have played, although I guess the selectors were desperate to prove something to the public after shamefully insulting Hauritz in the manner they did. The team should have been: Watson, Cosgrove, Khawaja, M.Hussey, D.Hussey, Smith (in Ponting's absense), Haddin (C), Hauritz, Johnson, Siddle, Bollinger, Hilfenhaus (12th). Clarke needs to be sent back to Shield cricket to get his head AND his back right. Beer should still be in Shield cricket, as should Hughes, until they convincingly prove themselves deserving of selection at a higher level, which Hauritz has done in spades, recently!

The selectors should think over before replacing Ponting with Clarke. If you study them both one can say Ponting is still much ahead of Clarke.In my opinion Mike Hussey would be the better choice looking at his cool headed and sure footed attitude.

Punter is still the one to lead Oz. Two good innings willbring him back to the best. He is a legend. His players should stand up to him.

Ponting has never been a popular captain and the continual first time failures while leading the Australian team will remain his legacy forever. Too many tatooed and overpaid egotistical players are dominating this NSW side masqurading as Australia while a genuine youth policy is overlooked. Clarke will never have the respect of the supporters outside NSW.

Based on his performance Collingwood took the honourable step and quit from Test Cricket. Ponting, Clarke and the other poor performers should do the same. Although they do not deserve to be in the team they still want to be there because there's money to be made. I agree with what Shane Warne said today- Does Australia have the right selectors, coach and players? Just think, if we had fielded a group of youngsters would they have performed any worse? The height of stupidity is to keep fielding more or less the same team but expect a totally different outcome. Just like in poker, if you have a bad hand, throw it and take a new hand. Retaining one card and taking four new ones is described as the action of a lunatic.

The Ashes drubbing is a good reality check for the Aussie cricket team.In my view they were an arrogant, cocky and at times unsportsman cricket side for a long time. They sledged other teams unmercifully which was not necessary. Now the English have shown that they are not that great. So they should make less noise and show their fans (I am not one of them) that they are capable of bouncing back. But my guess is that they will be in the cricket wilderness for quite some time before they can hope to regain some respectability.

How about Cameron White as captain, anyone? Ponting stays in at number 6 in the test team. He stays on as captain of ODI team and at No.3 in the ODI team ( because the white ball does not swing too much). Clarke goes, at least until he proves [in the shield, by scoring runs] he has what it takes to be the next Australian skipper or even an Australian player. I think that should be a good short term fix.

@Rahul: I believe a lot of teams have a good chance of winning the WC. India traditionally have always failed to cope with pressure sin the world cups and have been eliminated after Round 1 thrice now. I personally think England will win it, with Swann giving a stern reply to the IPL rejectors. I also believe Dhoni did not have much to do with India's number 1 test ranking. He got an incredibly good team and a lot of help from the umpires [ lack of UDRS] during his tenure [ which began shortly after 2008 scg test]. I believe SA and England are number 1 and 2 respectively.

bring in White as vice-captain & leave ponting in as captain & lower, middle order whilst White settles for a couple seasons. Drop Clarke & the poor mans White (Smith). forget about Katich & choose whoever is in the best form when the Sri Lanke tour rolls round of Hughes, Marsh & Maddinson. you can't bring people into the side who are out of form like they did with Hughes. forget bollinger as long as we have johnson, they're too often liabilities to be in the same team. bring back Hauritz even though i don't like him (haha). & lastly have a bowling attack which can build & sustain pressure apposed to what we saw in the ashes where there was a loose bowl most overs that released the pressure.

Cameron White has to be captain in all 3 formats. If Ponting's form warrants it, he can keep playing on as a batsman, but White needs to be captain for his tactical mind. It is the only way that Australia has a chance.

Do any of you writing these comments actually watch the game and take note of the records. You all seem to forget things very quickly. Everyone wants to suggest that Micheal Clarke should go, cant captain, cant bat...etc. If you go through the records, over the past 3 years he actually has the highest Aus batting average in Test cricket and was the standout batsman at the last world cup. Sure, he's form hasn't been great of late, but what batsman doesn't have a lean run. You all forget that up to this Summer, everybody's fan favourite Mike Hussey hadn't made any runs for 18 months, yet maintained his place... As for Clarke as Captain, he's only major chance was the 20/20 WC where he took them to the Final, something Ricky Ponting could never do. Australia's summer has not been great, this however is not due to poor form, its due to the simple fact that Australian's don't face swing bowling that well. You have to hand it to the English attack because its something their bowlers do well.

For Australia to have a chance in this WC, they need two aggressive batsmen to replace Gilchrist and Haden.There is one in Watson and the other should be Warner. I am begging Aus to try Warner and Watson to open against England in one of the remaining 50 overs. ( you have nothing to loose trying)Can you emagine these two giving you the same start like Haden and Gilchrist. I have nothing against Haddim, but he is a simple stroke player like Martin was.Aus needs aggression to stamp their authority at the top of the order.

Most people will remember Ricky Ponting's debut of 96 (out to Vaas off a dubious LBW if I recall) and followed it up in the Boxing Day test with a well compiled 71. On these occasions, he batted 5 and 6 respectively. The following season, he replaced the likes of M Waugh at 3 to allow him to move down the order as his style (and he had the best touch when on song) was being hampered by his growing age and slowing reflexes to the new ball. This was preparatory to transitioning in the new blood but did not immediately end the career of Waugh - who played down the order for another 5 years.

I would like to think that all the good years have not passed from this great australian cricketer and he has much yet to offer the australian side... a side that needs some stability down the order - what better to offer than the most prolific run scorer in Australian Cricket history.

Can I add, with a S/R still over 80 in ODI's, a stint at 4/5 in the colours isnt a bad option either.

The biggest problem for the Aussies was (besides Perth)their bowling attack. They struggled to take 10 wickets let alone the 20 needed to win. The English pace attack was far superior and continually put the Aussie batsmen under pressure. Batsmen fail when under pressure from quality bowling. Watson, Hussey and maybe Haddin were the only batsmen to stand tall against the English onslaught.

Sigh. I must add a correction to a statement seen far too often in cricket commentary circles. Ricky's (and any other player's) *reflexes* have nothing to do with, well, anything. His reaction time and movement time might be slowing a little bit, but batting and indeed all sports related movement is most definitely a conscious, complex coordination of movement. Reflexes bypass much of the higher-order brain processing that sports reactions require.

I would really like it if the cricket community could lead the way in correcting this frequent commentary error once and for all. Pretty please :)