Former captains back under-fire Clarke

Ponting, Waugh and Border all lend their support to the out-of-form skipper

SYDNEY: Former Australian captains Ricky Ponting, Steve Waugh and Allan Border all threw their support behind skipper Michael Clarke on Thursday after the Kangaroo’s dismal Test performance against Pakistan raised questions over the 33-year-old’s leadership.

Clarke arrived in Sydney on Wednesday after the team's whitewash in the UAE to a barrage of questions over whether he remains the best man to head the side.

Ponting said Clarke, despite battling a form slump, remained his pick as captain. “I think that was quite ridiculous, to tell you the truth," he said of the grilling Clarke received.

Despite downplaying the loss, Ponting added that Australia need to learn from the defeats in order to improve their performance in Asia. “It was a bit of a blip on what's otherwise been a pretty good copybook for the last couple of years,” he said. “Hopefully they can learn from their mistakes over the last couple of weeks.”

Clarke’s form with the bat has been worrying, as he has averaged just 27.46 in his last 16 innings, while he failed to reach double figures in three of the four innings against Pakistan; making 2, 3, 47 and 5. However, he claimed that he is not worried about losing his place or the captaincy and also had the support of former captains Waugh and Border.

"I can't understand that. I mean, every player goes through a time where they're not scoring runs," said Waugh. “But he's had an incredible run so you've got to put it into context. It was two Test matches, we didn't play well. Let's judge the side after maybe another six or 12 months and see how they're going."

Border was also surprised by the criticism levelled at Clarke. “They've got short memories," he said. "I think he's definitely the right bloke."

Clarke went on to say that his focus now was on the busy Australian summer, which kicks off today with a five-match ODI series against South Africa.

 
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