Twenty20 overkill could affect players: Ponting

With the Twenty20 World Cup round the corner, Ricky Ponting has offered a tempered endorsement of cricket's newest format, saying while the money generated from this format is beneficial to the game, there is a danger of overkill affecting the players.

"I've never been a big fan of Twenty20 cricket, but I gather that there's a lot of interest and money in this version of the game," Ponting said, "and we need money for the growth and development of the game. That said, the international calendar is packed these days and on top of that Twenty20 cricket won't do much for the players." He was in Bangalore as part of a sponsored event for school children.

The Twenty20 World Cup will be held in September in South Africa, and Ponting's Australia will be heavily favoured to add to the one-day championship they retained in April. The shortest format of the game has gained popularity since its international debut in 2004-05, when New Zealand hosted Australia. That win included, Australia have won three of the five Twenty20s they've played.

With a fairly lukewarm reaction to the recent Afro-Asia Cup, critics have been quick to say that there's little to separate such games and the hundreds of charity, exhibition and benefit games that are played around the world. Ponting didn't pick sides in the debate but agreed that perhaps the scheduling of such events should be revisited.

"They have all got their place, I suppose," he said. "I was having a chat with Rahul Dravid recently and he told me that this probably wasn't the best time to organise such a series. It's the off-season for some teams and the weather's pretty hot. Even the scheduling of India's tour to Bangladesh wasn't the best; you had a Test match washed out there. We in Australia are following the policy of rotation and resting the players to save them from fatigue and burnout."

It was more than rotation and rest, of course, that helped Australia to their third consecutive World Cup title in the Caribbean. Australia had lost five one-day internationals in a row leading into the tournament but turned things around when it came to the crunch. Ponting credited this to a strong core group and belief.

"It was important that I sat down with all the players and had a discussion with them," Ponting said. "In New Zealand, we played good cricket despite the fact that we were missing five or six of our main players. And in the World Cup our confidence got going after some good results in the initial games, especially after we notched up that victory in the big game against South Africa."

The team is now in the hands of Tim Nielsen, who succeeded John Buchanan as coach. "He's a respected man", Ponting said of Nielsen, "and he's done some very good work down at the Commonwealth Bank Centre of Excellence at Brisbane. The players and I are excited to work with him. It should be a good relationship."

Ponting was in Bangalore as a guest of ING-Vysya to provide tips to 350 schoolchildren. He arrived on the dais to thunderous applause from the children, clad in white, and a few doting mothers. After fielding a volley of questions from the enthusiastic emcee - including a 'rapid-fire' round where he was as quick with his witty responses as he is on the pull - and the media, Ponting spent close to two hours with the children in the nets and off the ground. Ponting batted against them, turned his arm over a couple times and the children were seen listening in rapt attention to his batting tips.

Talking of these aspirants, Ponting said: "They are the stars of tomorrow and I'm happy to see love for cricket among these children."