Ponting reveals long-term plan behind current decline

Thursday, February 5, 2009

Ponting reveals long-term plan behind current decline

The Australian cricket team's current decline is an unavoidable
fallout of a long-term plan to win the 2011 World Cup, insists
embattled skipper Ricky Ponting.

"One-day games and series come and go pretty quickly and while our
current results have been disappointing everybody has to understand
there is a long-term plan in place and things can change quickly,"
Ponting wrote in his column for 'The Australian'.

"Even now we are working toward the 2011 World Cup, blooding
players, testing tactics and finding out who performs under pressure,"
he explained.

Recalling the 0-3 whitewash at the hands of New Zealand ahead of the
2007 World Cup in West Indies, Ponting said his team was lambasted
after that defeat but went on to win the World Cup without losing a
game.

"Australia has not lost a game at the past two World Cups and that
didn't happen by accident, but I wonder if anybody remembers the 2007
one-day series against New Zealand over there," he said.

"I didn't go because my back was playing up. Adam Gilchrist had a
rest, which attracted a bit of comment at the time and Michael Hussey
was handed the captaincy," he recalled.

"It was a time when people like Adam Voges, Shane Watson, Shaun Tait
and Mitchell Johnson were given a chance to show what they had.

"The
results weren't flash. We lost 3-0 and it was right on the eve of the
World Cup. I remember the criticism of the team and the speculation
about whether Gilly and I should have been rested, but it was part of a
plan to ensure our better players, or more experienced players, were
ready for the big tournament," Ponting said.

Ponting said the team is in a similar situation right now.

"We're a bit further out from the World Cup right at the moment, but
it's a similar situation. There's been criticism about me not playing
the next few games and I was probably the person who was most reluctant
about it, but it's all about the bigger picture. A lot of planning has
gone into this decision, just as there was before we decided to rest
Mitchell Johnson for the start of the one-day series," he said.

"People have to be a little patient with some of the younger
players. They are long-term investments. Shaun Marsh and David Warner
are learning on the job. Everybody can see what enormous talent they
have, but in this game there are going to be steps forward and steps
backward," he added.