Ricky Ponting to move down batting order for Australia
Former Australian cricket captain Ricky Ponting is to be moved down the batting order in the Test set up to number four batsman.
Ponting scored the majority of his test runs as opener for the Australian test side however he has since moved to number three following the good form of team mate Marsh, although Ponting admits the change is not a big move as he considers position six to be his worst, a position he held when he first burst onto the test scene.
“It was a long-term plan of Michael’s to have Shaun move to No. 3 and me move to No. 4 and Michael (Clarke) move to five and (Mike) Hussey to six, so that wasn’t just a one-off for that game (against Sri Lanka). When I first came into the Australian side, batting at six was hard. Waiting that amount of time to bat for me was something that was very foreign to me, but three to four I don’t think is as big a change as three to six.”
Ponting requires only 13 more Test runs to reach 12,500 and could do so when the Australian side travel to South Africa for their tour which begins on Thursday beginning with the Twenty20 variation.
