Melbourne, July 29: Michael Clarke hailed Ricky Ponting as ‘one of the greatest players’ as he gets set to achieve a significant personal milestone in the third Ashes test at Edgbaston.
The Australian captain is just 25 runs away from becoming Australia’s highest run scorer in Test cricket – overtaking another legend, Allan Border, in the process.
Ponting currently stands at 11,150 runs (average 56.31) while Border had 11174 runs (average 50.56).
“Ricky is an amazing player, an amazing leader, someone we all look up to. If anyone deserves to overtake Allan Border, it will be Ricky Ponting,” vice-captain Clarke said.
“He has been a fantastic player for such a long time in all forms of the game, Test and one-day, and in all conditions around the world.”
“For me that is a sign of a great player, having longevity in the game and to score runs or take wickets in all different conditions.”
“The greats have done that and I definitely see Ricky as one of the greatest players who have ever played this game of cricket.”
Ponting will have a key role to play if Australia want to wipe out their 0-1 deficit in the series.
And Clarke admitted his side will be looking to exploit the absence Kevin Pietersen’s absence from the England batting line-up, whose replacement – Ian Bell – has an average of only 25 against Australia.
“Ian is a wonderful player and has been successful around the world,” Clarke said.
“We have to study Ian and have a look at where he scores his runs and his weaknesses and that will be part of our preparation today and tomorrow, making sure we have seen a lot of Ian.”
“We know he is a good player and we will have to bowl well at him.”
“Anytime a very good player is not playing, like Kevin Pietersen, it gives the team a boost but Ian is a very good player himself.”
“It is very important we concentrate on Ian now and make sure we are up to speed on the way he plays and we forget about Kevin for a little while.”
Clarke said he can understand why England will do everything possible to ensure all-rounder Andrew Flintoff is fit to play after his heroics with the ball at Lord’s.
“Andrew Flintoff is an amazing player. He has been for a long time. I’m not that disappointed I won’t have to face him after this series in Test cricket when he retires,” Clarke said.
“He is a wonderful bowler and it’s always a contest. But I hope he is fit and can finish his series. He certainly deserves that. Unfortunately he will be finishing as a loser.”
“He is always up for the big contests. He seems to perform under pressure and no doubt he will be ready on Thursday to give us more stick.”
Clarke also said Australia will need to pick their game up from what they exhibited at Lord’s.
“Things could be better. We could be one-nil up. I think there are things we need to improve with bat and ball,” he said.
“The practice game at Northampton was a really good lead-up for the guys. They got a lot out of that and we have to make sure our skills are at the highest level.”
“We need to be playing our best cricket to beat England in these conditions. We know that.”
—-Agencies