London, July 1 2009: Ricky Ponting is “crap” as captain, never deserved to get the job and has not improved a bit in the five years at the helm, said pace legend Jeff Thomson in a scathing attack on the Australian skipper just days ahead of the Ashes.

“I thought Ricky was crap when he was first captain in 2004 and nothing much has improved since then,” said the 58-year-old, 100 of whose 200 Test wickets have come against Ashes rivals England.

“I’m not the only one who thinks that. I’ve always bagged him and everyone at home thinks he’s s**** at the captaincy.”

“He’s a great player but captaincy is a totally different thing,” he said at a charity dinner here.

Thomson said he couldn’t believe when Ponting was picked as captain in 2004.

“I couldn’t believe it when he’d been picked as captain.”

Tagged with: Ashes, Australia, England, Jeff Thompson, London, Ricky Ponting

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