The calls for Ricky Ponting to be sacked as captain of the Australian cricket team are a bit premature in my opinion.
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After a decade or so of dominating the cricketing world, the Australian team was always going to undergo a rebuilding phase following the retirements of Warne, McGrath and Hayden et al, and giving Ponting the axe would only destabilise the team even further.
The Tasmanian is still the best candidate to lead the Australian team through this rough patch and I believe he is still the best batsmen in the country, despite being in the middle of a form slump.
Ponting has a steely determination and fighting qualities that are needed in a leader and he is not the type of bloke to stay down for long. Besides, if Ponting was given the boot, would replace him as skipper? Would Michael Clarke really be an improvement?
Wizard fails to work his magic
After England retained the Ashes with a convincing win in Melbourne, Australians everywhere were left to look for other stories of sporting success in a bid to restore our national pride. Personally, I resorted to watching the World Darts Championship in which Aussie Simon ‘The Wizard’ Whitlock was competing.
Whitlock –who looks an awful lot like Brett Lee with a beard – surprised many by finishing second at this event last year. Unfortunately though, after a strong start to this year’s tournament, which included a victory over Englishman Denis Ovens, Whitlock’s magic deserted him and he was knocked out in the third round by Dutchman Vincent van der Voort.
Kings more like jesters
If you think following the Australian cricket team this summer has been painful, spare a thought for fans of the Sydney Kings. The Kings were supposed to make a triumphant return to the National Basketball League in 2010/11 but their season is turning into an ever increasing joke.
Sydney are performing more like court jesters than basketball royalty at the moment and were handed their 13th consecutive loss by the Cairns Taipans last Friday night. Their total of 48 points was the lowest in the club’s history.
One possible solution to the problem could be recruiting former NBA Most Valuable Player Allen Iverson who recently mentioned on Twitter that he would like to finish his career in Sydney. Iverson is an 11-time NBA All-Star and his career average of 26.7 points per game ranks him sixth on the all-time list. What a signing that would be!
