I won’t fall for Edgbaston pitch this time around: Ponting
By chennaivision at 25 July, 2009, 4:33 pm
London, With reports suggesting that pitch preparations for next week’s third Ashes Test at Edgbaston has been ruined by rain, a wary Ricky Ponting believes that unlike 2005, this time, he won’t be fooled by the Birmingham wicket.
The Australian skipper, who was heavily criticised four years ago for bowling first without injured spearhead Glenn McGrath after concerns that heavy rain would make the pitch a minefield, seemed determined not to repeat the mistakes he made the last time.
”That’s what we got told last time,” he said.
”That’s the reason we ended up bowling first in 2005.
”There’d been a cyclone and a tornado through Birmingham and wicket preparation was miles behind. It was overcast on that day so we won the toss and bowled, and the thing (the ball) didn’t move off the straight for the whole day.
”I’m not sure I’ll be falling for that one this time around,” Ponting told the local media here.
Edgbaston groundsman Steve Rouse had said this time also he faced a similar scenario to 2005 after a fortnight of heavy rain had delayed preparation of the Test strip.
He added that the wicket has become a bit like ‘jelly’ after it had remained dry for just two out of 10 days.
The 34-year-old skipper has opted out of the three-day tour match against Northants at Northampton, and will travel with the team to Birmingham tomorrow night.
Middle-order batsman Michael Hussey will be the stand-in captain for the game in absence of Ponting, vice-captain Michael Clarke and wicketkeeper Brad Haddin.
”We’ll have a look first thing Monday,” Ponting said of the pitch.
”It will be a good opportunity to see how far advanced the preparation is and then hopefully we’ll be able to make a more accurate forecast,” the right-handed batsman said.
Ponting further rated the 2005 Edgebaston Test as one of the greatest matches, where the hosts scrambled to victory by just two runs to level the series 1-1.
”It’s one of the great Test matches a lot of us have played in,” Ponting said.
”It was a great game and for us to get that close was pretty remarkable,” he remarked.
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