Australia sign Ricky Ponting as Assistant Coach: The legendary cricketer will accompany the team during the world event.
Australia have signed two-time World Cup winning captain Ricky Ponting as Assistant Coach for the looming ICC Cricket World Cup 2019. Apart from leading the side, Ponting was also part of the Australian team which won the World Cup in 1999 under Steve Waugh.
Advertisement
The development mentioned Ponting working alongside former teammate and current Australia coach Justin Langer as the five-time World Cup winning Australia will defend their title in May this year.
The announcement was primarily done in the wake of previous assistant coach David Saker resigning from his post yesterday. “This appointment also provides an opportunity for Graeme Hick [current batting coach] to focus on preparation for the Ashes,” said interim High Performance Executive General Manager Belinda Clark.
Cricket Australia said in a statement that Ponting being given the responsibility is a part of “changes to the coaching structure (that) will see him focus on working closely with the ODI batting group.”
[yuzo_related]
“With two major events back to back we believe it is important to focus a number of staff specifically on one event. The appointment of Ricky is a part of this overall strategy.
“Ricky will assist Justin across a number of key areas including strategy and game-plan, but he will also work closely with and mentor the batting group as they prepare for the English conditions,” Clark added.
It is worth mentioning that Ponting has earlier worked in various capacities with the Australian team. Having started his coaching career as an assistant coach of Australia’s T20I team in 2017 and 2018, Ponting worked with Langer before Australia tour of England last year, the latter’s first tour as Australia coach.
“Ricky knows what’s required to win World Cups, and I know he will be a valuable mentor to not just the batting group, but the broader squad as we focus our attention on defending our World Cup title,” Langer said in a statement.
Read some of the latest Twitter reactions on the same below:
