Can Ponting score 100 International centuries?

[kirby]

Ok, I really have a problem with this comment, and all the ones like it recently. Ponting has had short ball problems right back to 1995. Srinath bounced him out in 1999, and he went through a period in 2000 vs WI with being bounced out too. He had a golden period for a few years from 2001 where no-one could bowl short at him and that seems to coincide with the exact period that all the people here have seen him bat. In the 90's he was far from assured against the short ball. So its not like its only just now he's being bounced out.

Whenever I've watched him, unless facing extremely good fast bowling, he's been the best against the short ball.

If he did have a "golden period" of being able to dispatch anything, then doesn't the fact that he is consistently being bounced out now indicate that his "golden period" is over, and therefore that his abilities are failing?

 

[Robelinda]

I'm not sure. Allan Donald didnt trouble Ponting at any stage, Ponting dominated him in that MCG ton in 97, and Donald tried his hardest to bounce him out, and he was in his best form vs Aus back then. Shoaib at Perth in 1999 was seriously fast, Ponting got 197. So i'm not sure extremely good fast bowling has troubled him at all, but rather cleverly directed short pitched bowling, but no bowler has managed to consistently bounce him out anyway.

Robelinda added 4 Minutes and 23 Seconds later...

Also, just about all the great hooker and pullers have a period where they hit one too many upwards and get caught, Ian Chappell, Viv Richards both went too far occasionally near the end of their careers trying to be too dominant, but they didnt shelve the shot like other players like Tendulkar, Sehwag who are mostly front foot bullies. I would back Ponting until he dies to win any short ball battle, the amount of ball he has hit out of grounds from pull/hook shots gives me that much faith.

 

[TumTum]

Lol calm down rob, ponting is definetly struggling with that short ball especially at the start of his innings.

But like Gazza said, Ponting is just 1 big knock away from being back to his best. This has been the deal with him all his career, people say he is out of form but he manages to fight his way back.

 

[angryangy]

Let's not overlook Hobart; after a soft chance was put down, he got into gear and batted better for a ridiculously long innings. I don't think better form is beyond him if he can get back in control of himself in the early stages.

 

[kirby]

I would back Ponting until he dies to win any short ball battle, the amount of ball he has hit out of grounds from pull/hook shots gives me that much faith.

What happened to his perpetual weakness against the short ball?

Ponting actually got hit by Kemar Roach during the summer, and from that point on looked decidedly uncomfortable against bouncers for the rest of the summer. Even if he occasionally got dismissed on the shot in previous years, I have never seen him actually hit and be shaken by it.

 

[angryangy]

I don't think this was a case of "from that point on", that was what everyone seemed to be saying, but it just became more apparent because there was much more short bowling from Pakistan. The fact is that he wasn't even playing a shot when he got hit by Kemar Roach, but he had played dodgy pull shots in England and earlier. You also see he takes his bottom hand off the bat a lot these days and that's not anything to do with the arm that got struck. However, that's the wrist that he has had trouble with.

 

[Robelinda]

What happened to his perpetual weakness against the short ball?

He's always had a slight problem, but then again he's always persisted with playing the hook and pull. Live by the sword....I'll back him to keep playing the shot and sort it out, rather than take the easy option and just duck everything for the rest of his career. All credit to him for being attacking.

 

[aussie1st]

The short ball problem really only came up recently where you could see he was really struggling with it. He might have got out to it in the past but that was more from picking out the man rather than him being unsettled by the bowler.

As for the question, hes no chance of making it. He'll need a Tendulkar like transformation to get close to it and by then he might have hung up his boots.

 

[Bublu Bhuyan]

No but so what? 100 is just an arbitrary number, he is still a better Test batsman than Tendulkar

Only someone who started following cricket from 2000 onwards will rate Ponting ahead of Tendulkar.

Bublu Bhuyan added 2 Minutes and 27 Seconds later...

Thats basically what this thread is asking, because Sachin is close to 100, don't pretend like that is not the issue here.

Nope. It's obvious that Tendulkar will reach it. But the bigger picture is that rarely does come such a player who can achieve something like this. Ponting has come the closest to it after Tendulkar. You can't really bet how many decades it'll take for another player to emerge who can even come close to achieving something like this.

 

[Bhargav]

i think he can get to it if he is in his best form...
hope for the best...

 

[Vilander]

Thats basically what this thread is asking, because Sachin is close to 100, don't pretend like that is not the issue here.

troll alert !!

 

[SciD]

How old is Strauss? He has good conversion rate in test matches. Sadly he will not get that many ODI tons.

A player who is well adapt at both formats is more likely to reach near that milestone. No one from this generation.

Its no guarantee that Sachin will get to 100. Remember the period where Sachin was just stuck in 30's test centuries and Ponting was churning out centuries at will. That period can again come for Sachin.

 

[WubbaLubbaDubDub]

First let Tendulkar score then this thread

 

[khalek]

No Ponting can't.

I played with Australia in ICC08 till the 2013 Ashes and had Ponting scoring at an average of 62-63 and he still ended up 20 centuries short and in real life, he averages around 55 now and has been struggling for consistency in tests for a long time now, so it's impossible.

To the neg repper: f*** you man, kiss my @$$. get a life, what makes you think I was trying to be funny.