ICC World Cup 2019: Australia rope in Ricky Ponting as assistant coach for the tournament

This will be the first time in ages that Australia will not go into a Cricket World Cup as one of the favourites. The defending champions have five world titles in all but they are ranked sixth in the ICC’s table at the moment. A sixth title looks improbable for the Kangaroos who have lost against a whole lot of opponents in the last couple of years. However, they are not yet ready to give up the dream yet.

Australia have roped in three-time World Cup-winning champion Ricky Ponting as their assistant coach for their campaign in the upcoming edition in England and Wales starting May 30. They will kick off their campaign against Afghanistan in Bristol on June 1.

The 44-year-old Ponting who scored over 13,000 runs in 375 ODIs and led Australia to win two world titles in 2003 (defeating India) and 2007 (defeating Sri Lanka) will work with Australia’s limited-overs batsmen. Regular batting coach Graeme Hick will focus on the Ashes in England which will be played after the mega event.

Ricky knows what it takes to win a WC

In a statement on Friday, Australia coach Justin Langer said, “Ricky knows what’s required to win World Cups and I know he will be a valuable mentor to not just the batting group, but the broader squad,” news.com.au reported.

Ricky Ponting himself was also looking forward to his new stint. He said helping the team in a mega event like WC will make his short-term role more significant than his earlier cameo roles for coach Langer and the latter’s predecessor Darren Lehmann.

“I’ve enjoyed my previous short-term roles with the ODI and T20I teams, but World Cups take on a whole different meaning for me. I have enormous confidence in the players available to the selectors and know we will be as tough to beat as any team,” Ponting added.

Ponting himself played in five World Cups (1996-2011) and remained unbeaten in two consecutive World Cups as the captain of Australia before losing his crown to MS Dhoni’s India in the quarter-finals of the 2011 edition in the sub-continent.

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