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Cricket Australia (CA) was upset after the national side failed to do well in the 2010 Ashes series against England on home soil followed by a quarter-final exit against India in the ICC World Cup 2011.
Due to this, several changes were made in the management including change of coach, captain and chairman of selectors. New selection chief John Inverarity has signalled a change in youth and rotation Test team policies, while Cricket Australia has appointed former rugby administrator Pat Howard as its high-performance manager.
The most positive thing was that the captain and coach were given the authority of selecting players in the side, which Ponting kept on demanding throughout his tenure as skipper of the side.
The 36-year-old was now happy that his successor Michael Clarke has a say in selection matters and was confident that things will head to a positive direction from now onwards.
Commenting on the changes, Ponting said, “I think it’s terrific. I think it’s the way the game should have gone a long, long time ago.”
The veteran further went onto say, “I think the way things have turned out at the moment is what (former coach) John Buchanan was asking for 10 years ago. It’s a much more professional approach. We’ve got quality people in and around the team and I think, even already now, we’re starting to see just a slightly different feel and a few different results as a result of that,”
He felt Clarke was in a better position as a selector as he would have more control of the team to go along with the amount of responsibility that captaincy brings.
“It was pretty hard to be accountable for everything that happens but that’s the way it was right through my time,” he said.
“I think it’s a really good decision to go that way to make the captain and the coach both selectors.”
Ponting, who is struggling with his form these days, said he is not thinking of retirement, “I honestly have not thought about retirement,” he said.
“I can’t afford to think about it and when that time is going to be. I’m a proud person as well and I want to make sure that I’m giving myself every chance to be a match-winning cricketer for Australia.”
The former Australian skipper has been under immense pressure in recent times following a bad run of form in Test cricket. He was unable to score a half-century in 13 consecutive innings before finally breaking the shackles against South Africa in a recently concluded Test match.
He will now be aiming to score a big one for his side in the upcoming two-match Test series against New Zealand.
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