Taking a cue from legendary sportsmen Lance Armstrong and Roger Federer's remarkable comebacks, Ricky Ponting said a bit of experience for the youngsters together with the return of senior players can bring back Australian cricket team's aura of invincibility.
Taking a cue from legendary sportsmen Lance Armstrong and Roger Federer's remarkable comebacks, Ricky Ponting said a bit of experience for the youngsters together with the return of senior players can bring back Australian cricket team's aura of invincibility.
He termed the last few months as a 'difficult' phase for Australian cricket during which they lost the Test series against India and both the Test and one-day series against South Africa at home.
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"With a new generation coming through, and some of our more experienced guys returning from injury, I firmly believe that Australia can regain its aura. A little more experience from the young blokes and a few more senior players returning to the team, such as vice-captain Michael Clarke, can be the difference between success and failure in big matches," he said.
"It has certainly been a difficult few months, losing a Test series in India and then against South Africa at home. But as I look around the sporting world there are all sorts of encouraging signs for the future which give me heart that we will soon be consistently back on the winners' list again," he added.
Ponting said Armstrong and Federer's comeback are some sporting analogies that apply to the Australian cricket team which has been badly hit by a string of retirements and a spate of injuries to key players.
"While we were in Adelaide, Lance Armstrong was racing in the Tour Down Under as his comeback event after three years in retirement. No one can argue that the 37-year-old is one of the greatest sportsmen who has ever lived," he said.
"As a multiple winner of the Tour de France his achievements have been phenomenal. His comeback was huge news and the Tour Down Under was unofficially labelled the "Tour de Lance", such was the publicity and expectation of his return to road racing," Ponting wrote in his coloumn for the Australian.
"It is the same with Roger Federer. He had a difficult 2008 battling glandular fever and losing his No1 ranking. After losing the semi-final of the Australian Open and the final at the French Open and Wimbledon there was speculation that he was past his best and on the slide. However, he came back later in the year to win the US Open," he added.
Claiming to be a die-hard football fan, Ponting cited examples of some Australian football teams which down-slided due to rapid transition of players, the same situation encountered by his side at present.
"I am a great Australian football fan and I have seen similar situations with AFL clubs. The Brisbane Lions won three premierships in a row and played in four successive grand finals just a few years ago before a rapid transition of players saw them slide down the ladder. They are now building for the future and rising up the ladder again," he said.
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