Irked Punter takes aim at piled-up fixtures

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Winning the series opener could not dilute Ricky Ponting's anger and the Australian captain is absolutely furious, claiming that the Champions League Twenty20 hindered his team's preparation for the ongoing ODI series against India. More... Ponting takes aim at piled-up fixtures October 27, 2009 Agencies AUSTRALIAN captain Ricky Ponting is unhappy about the cramped schedule that left him with an under-prepared team for Sunday's first limited overs match against India at Vadodara. Although it was a unique set of circumstances that resulted in the Ashes, the Champions Trophy, the inaugural Twenty20 Champions League and a seven-match tour of the subcontinent being mashed together, Ponting didn't hesitate in expressing his distaste at having three of his players join him at 8.30pm the night before the first match. NSW representatives Brett Lee, Nathan Hauritz and Doug Bollinger missed all of the tourists' preparations, including four training sessions and the pre-match team meeting. They also arrived fatigued, which possibly contributed to the elbow soreness Lee was complaining of by the end of the match -- something that precluded Ponting from using the quick at the death as what looked like a comfortable win turned into a very narrow victory. "There's no doubt those guys playing in the (Champions League) final hindered our preparation," Ponting said. "We had three players fly in and get to the hotel at 8.30pm Saturday night and we're leaving the hotel at 7am on match morning. "There was not much time for us to get our team tactics in order. We had a team meeting after training and those blokes were not even here. It hindered our preparation and theirs." While sympathising with Ponting, a Cricket Australia spokesman admitted the "unique set of circumstances" had meant the first match of the one-day series was always going to be a difficult assignment. Lee's elbow niggle and a hamstring strain to all-rounder James Hopes were additions to an injury list already cause for concern. Hopes is unlikely to be fit in time for the second match of the series at Nagpur tomorrow, and Lee will have to prove his fitness before he can play. "He got a little bit sore in his elbow towards the end of his second bowling spell," Ponting said of Lee. Ponting acknowledged that although most of his players contributed at important times across the day, none more so than man-of-the-match Mike Hussey, they had to do better after nearly allowing India's tail to climb from the canvas. "Hussey was excellent and he made it look easy for us," said Ponting, after his men completed a four-run win by restricting the Indians to 8-288 in reply to 8-292. "Siddle also bowled a splendid last over. He has done it before for us as well. That's a great positive we can take from this match. We bowled very well in the first 45 overs but we need to be better at the death." Ponting admitted his players had lost their heads when bowling to Harbhajan Singh (49) and Praveen Kumar (40no). "He (Harbhajan) didn't take the game away from us but he went close," Ponting said. Indian captain MS Dhoni felt that his men could take some momentum into Nagpur thanks to the tail-end pair. "Full credit to Harbhajan and Kumar for bringing us so close to the target," he said. "But we lost too many wickets in the middle overs. Only Gautam Gambhir managed a 50 and if one more player had gone on to make a big knock, things could have been different."

[99.94]

We're getting punished for winning everything! :two_thumbs_up: I wouldn't say he was 'absolutely furious', but I guess it must be pretty hard when people don't arrive until within a few hours of the game.

[Zap_Brannigan]

Although i think that the schedule for Ind and Aus players are tight, no one forced them to play the CL T20 earlier. The 2.5 million payout was sufficient for players to go for it and Ponting probably would have done the same. Its no use to whine about the schedule when the players have enough clout to pick and choose which tournament to play in.

[saneindian]

Hypocricy . He himsef retired from T20 intl's and said the same day he will play in IPL 3 and other such t20 leagues. Is he also jealous of others making some cheap money in the CL circus, after all the winners(including Lee, Hauritz, Bollinger) took home a purse of $2.5 mn. I remember him being surprised at the price he got sold for in the IPL auctions.

[champ]

money won by the NSW was the reason for ponting' outburst :finger:

[99.94]

Ponting lives in NSW himself and I imagine he could quite easily play for them. That said, I can't remember the last time he even played Domestic cricket for Tassie.

[Desi Cartman]

^ last season if my memory serves me right ...

[99.94]

Really? Hmm, well it doesn't happen too often!

[Desi Cartman]

Really? Hmm' date=' well it doesn't happen too often![/quote'] I am not sure either .. I remember seeing him in Green n Gold (I mean the tassie colours) a season or 2 ago yes it doesnt happen too often .. thats probably because he is busy playing for Aus during busy summer season. BTW other posters are saying that "he retired from T20 int 2 months ago .. still wants to play IPL"

[99.94]

Yeah I dunno I guess we'll have to wait and see whether he will (play IPL that is).

[Desi Cartman]

Yeah I dunno I guess we'll have to wait and see whether he will (play IPL that is).

or will :kkr: play him :hehe:

[Guest Hiten.]

TBH, CL scheduling was a bad one considering that Ind-Aus series was planned before CL. Having said that, Ponting should stfU and move on. India too were hampered by injuries of Veeru and UV (our pillars of batting order) but when we were kicked out of CT, it was our inability to perform on world stage and injuries were just a mere excuses that we were looking for to get out of the critics' eyes :dontknow:

[siddhu]

TBH' date=' CL scheduling was a bad one considering that Ind-Aus series was planned before CL. Having said that, Ponting should stfU and move on. India too were hampered by injuries of Veeru and UV (our pillars of batting order) but when we were kicked out of CT, it was our inability to perform on world stage and injuries were just a mere excuses that we were looking for to get out of the critics' eyes :dontknow:[/quote'] this CL was initially scheduled from last DEC. It was moved after the Mumbai Attacks. And this was the only window of opportunity to get the CL circus going.

[The Outsider]

this CL was initially scheduled from last DEC. It was moved after the Mumbai Attacks. And this was the only window of opportunity to get the CL circus going.

No, last year's CL was canceled for all practical purposes - the IPL as well as other domestic teams for this CL were chosen from the following season.