I am still worth a place in the side: Ponting
His recent poor run notwithstanding, Australian cricket team's stand-in skipper Ricky Ponting says he is still "worth a place" in the side but concedes that reputation alone won't be enough to get him the selectors' nod all the time.
"I think I am (worth a place in the team) but you'd better ask the selectors what they think about that," Ponting said.
"My last four games have not been what they would have liked but I guess if the selectors were thinking that way already then they probably wouldn't have picked me for the start of the series.
"There are still a few senior players around the side and they (the selectors) made it clear to the younger guys at the start of the summer that it was vital they have a little bit of experience around them."
Ponting, a former captain who is leading the side again due to injury to regular skipper Michael Clarke, said he was desperate to justify the selectors' faith in him.
Australia lost the ODI tri-series match against Sri Lanka with Ponting coming a cropper himself but he has nonetheless been retained for tomorrow's game against India."...it's not just reputation that is going to get you picked. You have to score runs, that's what it's all about. I know that as well as anyone," he said.
Speaking on other issues, Ponting gave indications that he endorses an independent commission to run cricket in Australia. He claimed that the Argus review, which shook up cricket at the top level in Australia, has revitalised the national side.
Ponting hoped the Crawford-Carter report could do the same to Cricket Australia's governance.
"I think all of us as players are really keen to see what comes of it all. Our playing review has been made very public and everything that came out of the Argus review has been printed and in the papers.
"As a playing group we're really keen to see what comes of the governance review in Cricket Australia," Ponting was quoted as saying by the 'Daily Telegraph'.
Ponting's take comes a day after former captain Mark Taylor's observation in which he supported the Crawford-Carter report's recommendations."I've read some stuff in the papers with Mark Taylor having a say to what's happening around Cricket Australia."
Praising the Argus review and its impact, which saw a new coach and selection panel and the appointment of Pat Howard as team performance manager, Ponting said, "I just think a whole freshening of everything has probably been the major reason that things have turned around the way they have."
"It's just been a really refreshing feel I guess right through cricket in Australia, not just around the national team either but everything.
"All the issues that were brought up in the Argus review have been addressed and some of the appointments that have been made, it certainly looks like we've got cricket in Australia heading in the right direction.
He said everything has been positive over the past few months.
"I think everything that's happened in the last six months has been ultra-positive for Australian cricket."
