Melbourne, July 29 (Inditop.com) Australian captain Ricky Ponting is in a dilemma on whether to play spinner Nathan Hauritz on the soggy Edgbaston pitch for the third Test beginning Thursday.
Though Ponting always prefers a frontline spinner, bad weather and local statistics have combined to force the Australians into a rethink.
“We’ve checked the stats for county games this season and spinners are averaging about 60 or 70 per wicket,” Ponting was quoted as saying in The Australian Wednesday.
“The numbers aren’t compelling and with all this weather around, the curator claims it will be a typical English seamer.”
“The beauty of our team is that whatever we do we’ve got plenty of options, with Michael Clarke, Simon Katich and Marcus North all able to bowl part-time spin.”
However, Ponting has already made it clear it will take a lot to make him bowl first if he wins the toss, given the heavy criticism four years ago when he sent England in and they scored more than 400 on the opening day.
“You can get a bit carried away and look into things too deeply,” Ponting said.
“There aren’t many pitches you don’t want to bat first on, and if that’s the case you’re bowling last and you want a spinner.
“We just have to make sure we get our thinking right.”
Dropping Hauritz becomes all the more difficult because he is the surprise of the tour. He and Ben Hilfenhaus are equal leading wicket-takers in the series, with nine apiece.
rounak