Ponting pitches for more spring in wickets

The state of the world's pitches is taking away the excitement from Test cricket, according to Ricky Ponting. Australia have completed two Tests on dull surfaces in Jamaica and Antigua and Ponting believes bounce is crucial to making the game more interesting.

"I just think Test cricket is probably not as exciting anymore because of the wickets that we're playing on," Ponting said in the Sydney Morning Herald. "People would rather watch a game in Perth than they would in Antigua. There's much more happening.

"There's more bouncers, more batsmen ducking and weaving and sometimes falling on their backsides, more catches behind the wicket, more hook shots. That's the sort of Test cricket that we all grew up watching and enjoying."

Ponting repeated his view that the surfaces around the world were "just too flat and too placid". "That's what I would be saying to all the authorities around the world: let's just try and do something with the wickets," he said. "If it means digging them up and relaying them then let's try it. It's obviously not working too well at the moment."

While Ponting wants the pitches changed, he is less enthusiastic about the ICC's idea of a Test world championship, with a prize awarded at the end of a four-year cycle. "You're playing for a trophy every series you play," Ponting said. "It doesn't matter if it's at the end of two or three or four years, there are trophies on the line every series. We've got to look at other smaller ways. But let's just see how this all pans out."