Ponting feels let down by Australia’s loss to Lanka

Mumbai, Sep 6 (PTI) Former Australia captain RickyPonting is unhappy with his country’s comprehensive 0-3whitewash by Sri Lanka in the recently-concluded Test seriesin the Emerald Isle and said today he was particularlydisappointed that it came against an inexperienced home side. "I was disappointed with the result. I think the mostdisappointing thing for me was the fact that it was a veryyoung, inexperienced Sri Lankan team as well and they wereable to beat the Australian team very comfortably," Pontingtold reporters here on the sidelines of the launch of theBSchool Flagship five-day Residential Executive LeadershipProgramme in Tasmania in 2017. "The conditions were very challenging, but as Australianplayers now you know that those are the sort of conditions youare going to confront when you go anywhere in thesub-continent. I was really happy and pleased to see thembounce back in the one-dayers the way they did," said thetwo-time World Cup winning captain. Australia were thrashed by 106 runs at Pallekele inthe series opener and slumped to bigger defeats – by 229 and163 runs in the second and third Tests at Galle and Colombo,unable to counter the guiles of left-arm spinner RanganaHerath, who grabbed 28 wickets at a measly 12 runs per victim. Ponting said the Aussies have a lot of work to do ifthey aimed to do well against India when they tour thiscountry in the New Year. Australia were thrashed 0-4 on thelast trip in 2012-2013. "They play India in India pretty soon as well. So ifthat group of players think they can compete here (India) thenthey have a lot of work to do, both technically and the waythey approach those conditions," he remarked. "It is always going to be the biggest hurdle for theAustralian players to play the spinning conditions well and itis probably something that we never mastered. We might havenever mastered those conditions, but, say around 7 to 10 yearsago, we managed to be ultra competitive," Ponting said. "I still believe this current group of Australianplayers are good enough to win in the sub-continent. They justhave to tweak their game a little bit, maybe think about theirapproach a little bit differently and I am sure they can winhere," he added. (More) PTI NRB SSR SSCSSCJMF