Chappell Urges Ponting To Calm Down
The Age
Tuesday September 26, 2006
FORMER Australian captain Ian Chappell has advised Ricky Ponting to control his temper after his recent brushes with officialdom, and said the forthcoming Ashes will define Ponting as a leader.
Ponting last night returned from Malaysia, where Australia warmed up for the Champions Trophy by winning a short series against India and the West Indies.It may have been an obscure tournament, but it was not without controversy. The Australian captain was fined for quarrelling with an umpire over a wide call, and escaped report for remonstrating after a decision was reversed and Sachin Tendulkar recalled to the crease.Chappell described the Spirit of Cricket pledge as "a nonsense", but warned that Ponting's recent habit of animatedly questioning the judgement of umpires was "out of order"."I know when I was a captain that the law stated the captain was able to check with an umpire on a point of law, and I think this is where Ricky's wrong. If you're arguing on a judgement call, then I don't think you should be doing that," Chappell said. "I think it's also in the way that you ask the questions."Ponting was not reported over the Tendulkar incident because he was called over to umpire Mark Benson rather than approaching him. But he risks being suspended for a Test if he trangresses again."His temper looked to me like it might get the better of him when he was (only) a player," said Chappell, whose new book, A Golden Age, charts the Australian team over the past 20 years."The spate of things seems to have been quite recent. Up until then, I thought he was controlling his temper pretty well. I'm pretty sure he's aware of it, and he's going to have to continue to be."In the book, Chappell compares the calm, decisive captaincy of Michael Vaughan during last year's Ashes with Ponting's more consultative style, but yesterday said the Australian seemed to have stamped his authority since."This is going to be a pretty decisive series for his captaincy. Particularly if England play well again, how he copes with this series will give us a really good clue as to whether his captaincy has gone up a level or two," Chappell said.Although Chappell would have chosen Andrew Strauss to lead England in the absence of Vaughan, he could not fault England's philosophy in opting for Andrew Flintoff."They won the Ashes by doing something I didn't think they would have the balls to do (picking Kevin Pietersen). Flintoff is once again a very bold move. There's no reason why he shouldn't be a good captain, and I'm not one who believes it's overburdening him."? Chief executives from all major cricketing nations were last night expected to implement a tough, new code at an International Cricket Council meeting in Dubai, which could result in stadiums forfeiting the right to stage international matches if their crowd members are guilty of persistent racist behaviour.The code was devised after South Africa's tour of Australia last summer, and will propel cricket to the forefront of worldwide efforts to rid racism from sport. Measures include the formation of a SMS or telephone hotline at grounds, allowing crowd members to report incidents of racist or anti-social behaviour, as well as life bans for spectators found guilty of racial abuse."We're very pleased to be pushing so hard on the issue of removing racism from the sport," ICC spokesman Brian Murgatroyd said. -- With ALEX BROWN
© 2006 The Age