DHAKA, (Reuters) – New Australia captain Michael Clarke is ready to turn to his predecessor Ricky Ponting for advice as he seeks to instil consistency into his team during the three-match one-day series against Bangladesh.
At a news conference yesterday, Clarke said he did not envisage too many changes in leadership style after Ponting stepped down following the defending champions’ elimination from the World Cup.
“Ricky’s advice has always been very helpful to me whether that was when I was his vice-captain or now as the captain,” he said.
“I had the fortune to captain Australia in a few one-dayers, and some Twenty20s and one test match. His knowledge is crucial to the team going forward.
“Certainly I don’t want to change our relationship as it has always been very strong on and off the field.
“I don’t think there will be too many changes, to be honest. One thing that I am trying to bring to this team is to be more consistent with our playing.
“I think over the World Cup we played some really good cricket in patches and then played some poor cricket.”
Australia were beaten by Pakistan in their final group match and were then eliminated by India in the quarter-finals.
Ponting said the Australia top-order batting needed to improve.
“Whenever we had some success, someone in the top four had scored a hundred,” he said.
“But we only scored one century in the World Cup, that was Ricky in the last game, so probably our main focus now is someone in the top go and make a century in all three games we play.”
