Ponting revisits Saf, holds individual talk with teammates

Sydney, Mar 11 (UNI) Australia captain Ricky Ponting revisited a tactic he used four years ago in South Africa in a bid to sack off his side's recent form and injury worries by having one-on-one interviews with his players.

Australia came to the Caribbean in a crisis mode after suffering five straight ODI losses and injury worries to key players Andrew Symonds and Matthew Hayden not to speak of the unavailability of strike bowler Brett Lee.

But Ponting was determined to set the world champions' World Cup campaign on track and spoke to every player to find out whether there was a crisis of confidence in the team, after the CB tri-series loss to England and 3-0 series whitewash against New Zealand.

Ponting, who could emulate West Indian Clive Lloyd to become the only second captain in history to lift the coveted trophy twice, used a similar tactic before the World Cup in South Africa four years ago, when they started on a traumatic note after Shane Warne's positive test for a banned diuretic.

Famously, Australia recovered from that setback and a tournament-ending injury to Jason Gillespie to go through the World Cup undefeated and triumph in a memorable final against India, with Ponting making a match-winning century.

''I wasn't in New Zealand but one of the first things I did when we got here was to hold one-on-one meetings with all the players,'' Ponting told Sydney Morning Herald.

''I asked them about their roles, if they were confused about their roles within the team. The responses I got were really positive. There's just been that bit of a slip-up with sides chasing 340, 350 against us. It's just about confidence, and they're really confident they can turn it around,'' he said.

With injury ruling out Brett Lee and Andrew Symonds recovering from his biceps strain, Ponting backed emerging quicks Mitchell Johnson and Shaun Tait, and Victorian batsman Brad Hodge, to step into the breach in the West Indies, just as Symonds and Andy Bichel did four years ago.

Once criticised for ''captaincy by committee'', Ponting has since stamped his authority on every aspect of the team's operations. At 32, he considers himself a stronger leader than he was 18 months ago.

''I probably am a little bit, but I don't do it deliberately,'' said Ponting, who was voted as the ICC Cricketer of the Year.

''You have to put a certain amount of trust in the players, but if that's not getting the results you want then you have to be more forthright. That's in how you play, how you train, how you present yourself.'' UNI