Team conduct leaves Ponting “embarrassed”

By Rahul Bajaj
for Cricketain.com

Published: December 22, 2009

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Melbourne: Australian skipper Ricky Ponting said on Monday that he was embarrassed by his teammates’ on-field behaviour during the third test match against West Indies at Perth and that he would talk to his players who overstepped the line in the game.

The third test between Australia and West Indies was marred with some very ugly incidents, which left three Australian players fined and one West Indian banned for two ODIs.

All-rounder Shane Watson was fined 15 per cent of his match fee for his over-the-top celebration after he dismissed rival skipper Chris Gayle in the second innings on Saturday. Earlier, wicket-keeper batsman Brad Haddin and fast bowler Mitchell Johnson were also fined for their ugly altercation with West Indies spinner Sulieman Benn, who was banned for two one-day matches.

Before that, Australian fast bowler, Doug Bollinger, was fined in Adelaide for kicking the pitch during the second test match. The behaviour of the Australian players invited wide spread criticism and Ponting said that he will make sure that the same mistakes are not repeated again when they start their series against Pakistan.

“I know all the guys are a bit embarrassed probably and know they’ve overstepped the mark. It’s one of my responsibilities as the captain to make sure that guys aren’t overstepping the mark. This week when we get down to Melbourne as a group together it will happen in our first team meeting, we will go over some of the events of this week,” Ponting was quoted as saying by the Herald Sun.

However, Shane Watson, who was fined for his wild celebrations after he dismissed Chris Gayle, justified his actions, saying that he was provoked by Gayle, thus that send off.

“There was a bit of build up to it, so it’s always nice to get Chris Gayle out, he’s obviously one of the most devastating batsmen in the world at the moment.  He definitely let me know that he was keen for me to come on to bowl leading up to that, so it was very nice to get him out first ball,” he was quoted as saying by the Daily Telegraph. “That was the catalyst for me celebrating the way I did. I know there’s a line and I was extremely happy to get him out, I normally don’t celebrate to that extent when I get someone out.”

“But when he baits me, talking about wanting me to come on to bowl to be able to take me down, it’s always very nice to get the upper hand,” the all-rounder added.

Gayle, who was named the player of the match and series, also took a dig at Watson’s conduct, saying he was not surprised by that. “Shane is that sort of person. I didn’t expect anything better. That is typically Watson. He is a passionate person. He expresses himself and sometimes he may overdo it,” he said.

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