Two-time World Cup winning captain Ricky Ponting has backed Australia’s Test captain Pat Cummins to replace Aaron Finch as the team’s next ODI captain. Finch retired from ODIs in less than a year during Australia’s home series against New Zealand ahead of the 2023 ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup in India.
“I think it will be Pat Cummins, to be honest,” Ponting told host Sanjana Ganesan on the ICC review.
“I know he doesn’t play all ODIs for obvious reasons, because his workload in Test cricket, like all fast bowlers, has been too much over the years.
“I know they are very conscious to make sure they have Cummins, (Josh) Hazlewood and (Mitchell) Starc 100 percent fit and healthy for the big Test series.
“But look, I’d be surprised if Pat Cummins wasn’t there.”
Steve Smith was stripped of captaincy and banned from leading Australia for two years, while his deputy Warner was given a life leadership ban for his roles in the 2018 ball-tampering scandal in South Africa .
“Based on what I have happened to Steve Smith, he is now Test vice-captain again, has been the captain and is really at the center of the whole controversy in Cape Town,” Ponting said.
“He is now the Test vice-captain, which means that if Pat Cummins ever misses a Test, Steve Smith is going to be Australia’s captain again in Test match cricket.
“So, if that’s the case, and everything is equal and reasonably fair, then I think it would be okay for David Warner to have his name (in the ring) as far as I’m concerned.
“Not saying they have to make him captain, but he should be able to negotiate.”
Finch played 146 ODIs with the bat during his career at an average of 38.89 and his number of 17 ODI centuries is the third-highest by an Australian player.
“I wasn’t really surprised,” Ponting said.
“I personally felt that he was probably one game away or one failure away from being dropped anyway. How bad has his last 12 months in One Day International cricket been.
“I think it was the right time. I really thought it was really great, whatever he said, that when he stepped down, it was up to the next captain to take himself and his team to the next World Cup.” Gives a fair amount of time to prepare.
“A similar thing was given to me when I took over the captaincy, and when I stood up and Michael Clarke took over, I knew what was going on. I wanted to give the next captain a really good run was the next big tournament he played.”
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