“He could be thrown into the ring”: Ricky Ponting wants Australia to test uncapped wicket-keeper batsman before T20 World Cup 2021

Ricky Ponting wants Australia to test uncapped cricketer: The former Australian captain wants Aaron Finch’s team to finalize a wicket-keeper batsman.

Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting has expressed a concern around Australia’s lower-order T20 batting stating that the lack of any batsman consistently batting in that area worries the team.

“The spot I think they’ve always been worried about is that finishing role, and one of the reasons for that is that all of our best batsmen bat in the top four in the Big Bash, so you’ve actually got no one that’s consistently batting in that area,” Ponting was quoted as saying by cricket.com.au.

Ponting, who had most recently shortlisted three batsmen for the middle-order spot in the Test XI ahead of Ashes 2021-22, has now pointed out that the wicket-keeper batsman’s spot remains open in the shortest format.

In the recent past, the likes of Alex Carey, Matthew Wade and Josh Phillipe have all played T20Is for Australia but the team management is yet to zero in on one particular name and his batting position ahead of the ICC T20 World Cup 2021.

“The keeper-batsman is probably the slot they’d be losing the most sleep over right now. They’ve still got some questions to answer as far as what their overall squad looks like and I think the biggest one is ‘Who is going to be standing behind the stumps with the gloves on?’

“They have tried a few blokes – [Matthew] Wade has been there, [Josh] Phillipe has just played as a batter, Alex Carey has been in and out and tried in a few different batting spots,” Ponting said.

Ricky Ponting wants Australia to test uncapped wicket-keeper batsman before T20 World Cup 2021

Ponting, who has been part of the Australian support staff (temporarily) in the recent years and actively calls matches in the Big Bash League, has named Perth Scorchers wicket-keeper batsman Josh Inglis regarding deserving a chance in T20Is especially before the world event in the sub-continent.

“Josh Inglis’ name could be thrown into the ring as well – I really liked what I saw from him batting in the middle order in last summer’s BBL.

“He plays spin really well and you think about where the World Cup is going to be [in India or the UAE], he could be a name that could come up [for selection],” Ponting further said.

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Inglis, who didn’t let a demotion in the batting order affect his form in BBL 2020-21, was among the top run-scorers amassing 413 runs at an average and strike rate of 34.41 and 140 respectively with the help of three half-centuries. Overall, in his 41-match T20 career, Inglis’ 941 runs have come at 29.40 and 143.44 respectively including eight half-centuries.