Two-time World Cup-winning skipper Ricky Ponting has backed Australia’s Test captain Pat Cummins to exchange Aaron Finch because the facet’s subsequent ODI captain. Finch retired from ODIs throughout Australia’s residence sequence towards New Zealand with lower than a 12 months to go earlier than the 2023 ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup in India.
“I think it’ll be Pat Cummins, to be honest,” Ponting advised host Sanjana Ganesan on The ICC Review.
“I know he doesn’t play all the ODIs for obvious reasons, because his workload in Test cricket has been, like all the fast bowlers, very high in the last few years.
“I do know they’re very aware of creating positive that they’ve acquired Cummins, (Josh) Hazlewood and (Mitchell) Starc 100% match and wholesome for the large Test sequence to come back round.
“But look, I’d be surprised if it wasn’t Pat Cummins.”
Steve Smith was stripped of the captaincy and banned from main Australia for 2 years, whereas his deputy Warner was handed a lifelong management ban for his or her roles within the 2018 ball-tampering scandal in South Africa.
“I’m just basing this on what’s happened with Steve Smith he is now the Test vice-captain again, having been the captain and really at the center of the whole controversy in Cape Town,” Ponting famous.
“He is now the Test vice-captain, which means obviously that if Pat Cummins ever misses a Test, then Steve Smith is going to be the captain of Australia again in Test match cricket.
“So, if that’s the case, and all being even and fairly honest, then I feel it could be OK, so far as I’m involved, for David Warner to have his title (within the ring).
“Not saying that they have to make him captain, but he should be able to be in the conversation.”
Finch performed 146 ODIs throughout his profession, averaging 38.89 with the bat and his tally of 17 ODIs hundred is the third-most by an Australian participant.
“I wasn’t surprised actually,” Ponting added.
“I sort of personally felt that he was probably one game away or one failure away from getting dropped anyway. That’s how bad his last 12 months have been in one-day international cricket.
“I feel it was the fitting time. I really thought it was actually noble, what he stated as properly, that stepping down when he did, it provides the subsequent captain an inexpensive time main getting himself and his crew prepared for the subsequent World Cup.
“I used to be afforded the same factor as properly once I took over the captaincy, and once I stood down and Michael Clarke took over, I used to be very conscious of what was arising. I needed to provide the subsequent captain an excellent run into the subsequent massive event that they performed.”
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