PUNTER A SURE BET
EX-CAPTAIN SET TO RETURN:
CRICKET Australia is deep in negotiations with Ricky Ponting to coach the national team to the blockbuster Twenty20 World Cup to take place on home soil.
Ponting is poised to play an assistant’s role to Darren Lehmann in Australia’s Twenty20 tri-series against England and New Zealand in February, but the bigger goal is to lock in the former Test skipper to help break the country’s excruciating World Cup drought in the shortest format.
CA has made no secret of its desire to potentially separate the Twenty20 coaching role into a specialist position after Lehmann’s contract expires in 2019, and it’s understood Ponting, for so long their prime target, is now in advanced talks to play the lead role.
Ponting is set to return to the high-powered world of Indian Premier League coaching this year when he takes up the head role at the Delhi Daredevils.
Even when he was playing, Ponting was regarded as the premier batting coach in the country, and Matthew Hayden has often spoken about how conversations with the skipper out in the middle mid-innings could get him making critical adjustments on the run.
CA got Ponting on as an assistant for last summer’s Twenty20 fixtures when Justin Langer was given the reins temporarily.
Ponting has clear coaching ambitions and CA believe he is the best brain in the Australian game, but in the past, timing issues have got in the way.
The 43-year-old has broadcasting and business commitments as well as a young family he doesn’t want to be away from.
For that reason, he is unlikely to throw his hat in the ring for Lehmann’s current role of coaching all three formats, however, the more isogiven lated gig of Twenty20 mentor has serious appeal.
Cricket Australia has already forecast its desire to make T20 cricket – in which Australia is ranked a lowly No.7 – an increased focus by making Mark Waugh head selector for the format.
Having Ponting as a regular coach or contributor from now right through to the World Twenty20, to be staged in Australia in late 2020, would help provide a cohesion and direction that has never existed previously.
Usually when Australia plays Twenty20 cricket, squads are split up and temporary coaches need to be found, with Trevor Bayliss, Langer and David Saker among those to have deputised for Lehmann in international Twenty20 series over the past few years.
It has been a haphazard approach that is then reflected in Australia’s consistently poor record in World Twenty20 tournaments – an unacceptable blemish on the nation’s cricketing record, particularly the overwhelming success achieved in 50-over World Cups.
Cricket Australia’s mantra is to be No. 1 in all three formats, and behind the scenes there is a belief the only way they can make that happen in Twenty20 cricket is to make it a streamlined and specialist department.
Ponting has been on the record in the past questioning how long Steve Smith would be able to maintain the excess- ive load of captaining all three formats. The former Australian captain is speaking from experience of how the massive responsibility of a packed schedule weighed him down, and Smith has missed more T20s than he’s played in recent years.
David Warner has been hugely successful as captain of Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL and would be the prime candidate for T20 captaincy if Australia wanted to go down that path – although Smith has made it clear he feels he can manage all three forms and CA has had no thought to change that model.
Ponting is currently keeping as close an eye on Australian talent as anyone in his role as Channel Ten Big Bash commentator, and coaching in the IPL is the perfect way to monitor the latest trends internationally.
There will be some crossover between Australia’s Twenty20 tri-series against England and New Zealand and the start of the South African Test tour.
It’s understood an advance party will head to South Africa for a tour match in Benoni starting on February 22, and it’s yet to be determined how many members of the Test squad will stay back in New Zealand for the T20 tri-series, which has its final round-robin game on February 16 and a final on February 21.
PONTING HAS CLEAR COACHING AMBITIONS AND CA BELIEVE HE IS THE BEST BRAIN IN THE AUSTRALIAN GAME, BUT IN THE PAST, TIMING ISSUES HAVE GOT IN THE WAY.