Weve got some thinking to do

Ricky Ponting wasnt exactly at a loss for words after the knock-out blow...

Ricky Ponting wasnt exactly at a loss for words after the knock-out blow; he was short on explanations though. Australia had been sent packing from the World Twenty20 championship by an inspired Sri Lanka on Monday night,and even as the Irish,Lankan and English fans danced together in the streets of Nottingham,a bewildered Ponting struggled to explain why his team,world-beaters in Test and one-day cricket for over a decade-and-a-half,cant get a grip on the games shortest format.

In a press conference that lasted longer than most,he took on every question thrown at him,but most answers started with a shrug of the shoulders and a shake of the head. Id like to be able to tell you I knew what was going on, Ponting said,shrugging his shoulders. Thats five international Twenty20 games weve lost in a row, he continued,shaking the head.

Thats a bit of a worrying trend for our team and our group. I couldnt have been happier with what wed done leading into the tournament,everything was spot on. But when the big moments have come along weve just stumbled.

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Australia had been knocked out of the first edition of the tournament in the semi-finals,but even then,had suffered an embarrassing loss to Zimbabwe in the group stages. And while their line-up,on paper,is one of the strongest going around,their performances in the shortest format have been a bit of a joke.

Weve got some thinking to do,theres no doubt about that. I cant tell you how disappointed I am that were not through to the next stage,for the reason that I cant really understand why. Everything was going along so nicely for us and now we find ourselves out of the tournament altogether. Thats it.

No excuses

The inevitable question was posed: Did the team miss Andrew Symonds,one of the top Twenty20 players in the world? Ponting was neither evasive,nor defensive about the decision to send the all-rounder back.

It upset a lot of our structures around the team, he said. Hes one of the best individual players in this form of the game anywhere in the world,so when you do lose somebody like him it does throw a spanner in the works,for sure. But were not going to use that as an excuse. We had 14 other guys here who had to step up in his absence,and weve been good enough to do that in the past when weve lost some of our better players out of the side.

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Any silver linings,if he looked really hard? Preparations for the Ashes,he said. It cant hinder us,I guess,to have some more time with the red balls out and getting used to thinking about and preparing for the longer form of the game.

Now that England are through to the next round theyll obviously play this form of the game for another week at least. Game over? Let the mindgames begin.

Final score: Australia 159-9 in 20 overs lost to Sri Lanka 160-4 in 19 overs by 6 wickets

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