Ponting doubtful for Australia
Ponting has not travelled with the rest of the Australia T20 squad
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Monday, 03, Sep 2007 09:03
Australia's preparations for the inaugural Twenty20 World Championship have been dealt a blow with the news that captain Ricky Ponting is a doubt for the start of the tournament.
The Tasmanian native has remained at home despite the rest of the team flying out to South Africa today ahead of the beginning of the championships next week.
Citing "family related issues", Ponting says he expects to join the rest of the squad later this week, although the team's first match of the tournament is only nine days away – against Zimbabwe in Cape Town.
"I've been in touch with Punter [Ricky Ponting] and he said that he's most likely at the moment to join us again in a few days time," said Australia vice-captain Adam Gilchrist, who will stand in if Ponting remains absent next week.
"But we'll just wait and see how things pan out over the next few days."
In addition to Ponting, Australia fast bowler Stuart Clark, who was a hero in the Ashes Test series against England at the turn of the year, and all-rounder Shane Watson have also stayed behind because of minor injuries.
But rather than bemoaning the reduced number of players, Gilchrist said it showed a positive trend among Cricket Australia bosses.
"It's a sign of the times the compassion that we get from the administrators now that players like Ricky and Stuart are able to stay behind if there are serious enough issues that are non-cricket related," Gilchrist said.
"That's terrific to see that understanding from administration now and I think that's only going to help players get by in what is a very busy schedule."