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Ponting hits back at CA

Melbourne: Ricky Ponting has hit back at Cricket Australia for letting the national team down during the infamous racism row involving Harbhajan Singh and Andrew Symonds and also lashed out at eminent columnist Peter Roebuck for launching “over the top” criticism.

The skipper, currently under fire for losing the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series in India, said in his ‘Captain’s Diary 2008’ that Roebuck “was scathing in his criticism” and “so far over the top it was ridiculous” following the drama at Sydney.

“We made the mistake of assuming that those closest to us would automatically back us and realise that our cause was noble. When we didn’t get that support, we were angry and felt totally let down,” he said in the book which hit local book stores on Tuesday.

Ponting also said he would defend his teammates in the same fashion again without caring for his own reputation.

“I guess there was a certain naivety on my part in all of this; next time, I’ll want to be just as sure about my convictions as I was this time, but I’ll also want to be certain that the game is as committed to justice as I am before I put my reputation, and the reputation of my teammates, on the line,” he said.

“There is a part of me that says in future I should steer clear of ‘cricket politics’... but I don’t want to run away from my responsibilities. I couldn’t then, and I won’t in future. Trust me.”

“I hope I never have to go through another year like it before my career is through,” Ponting wrote for the 2007-08 season.

On Roebuck’s column after the Sydney Test in January, Ponting said the noted writer treated the row as if ‘World War III’ had been started by the Australians. — PTI

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