Ricky Ponting throws uncapped Josh Inglis' name in the mix for wicketkeeper slot at T20 World Cup
Former Australia skipper Ricky Ponting opined that Australia's wicketkeeping spot at this year's ICC T20 World Cup is up for grabs. He also threw in the uncapped Josh Inglis’s name in the mix despite the keeper not being named in the preliminary squad named for the upcoming tours of the Caribbean and Bangladesh.
Alex Carey, Matthew Wade and Josh Philippe were all named in the 23-man team that will be chopped further before the five T20s and three ODIs against the Windies in July.
Ricky Ponting, who has been part of Australia's T20 coaching staff in the past, says the lower-order 'finisher' role remains a conundrum. He also said the wicket-keeper role was an issue that needed to be fixed.
Alex Carey was dropped from Australia's T20 side last September for the final game of England's white-ball tour and Wade has taken over wicket-keeping duties in the last nine T20Is.
Meanwhile, Josh Philippe, who was the KFC BBL Player of the Tournament, made his international debut against the Kiwis. He functioned as a specialist top-order batsman and will provide the Australian selectors with an additional option.
Ricky Ponting feels the wicket-keeper batsman role will have to be addressed ahead of the T20 World Cup
Speaking about the selection for the T20 World Cup, Ricky Ponting stated that choosing a wicket-keeper will be one of the tougher decisions the selectors will have to make ahead of the tournament.
"The keeper-batsman is probably the slot they'd be losing the most sleep over right now," Ricky Ponting told cricket.com.au. "They've still got some questions to answer as far as what their overall squad looks like and I think the biggest one is, 'Who is going to be standing behind the stumps with the gloves on?'"
Ponting observed that there have been a quite few wicket-keepers in the Australian T20 side in the recent past.
"They have tried a few blokes – Wade has been there, Phillipe has just played as a batter, Alex Carey has been in and out and tried in a few different batting spots," said Ricky Ponting. "Josh Inglis's name could be thrown into the ring as well – I really liked what I saw from him batting in the middle order in last summer's BBL."
Inglis has quite the record in domestic cricket. The wicket-keeper has racked up 2077 runs from 42 first-class matches at an average of 34.04. His List A games have seen him yield 708 runs from 22 outings while he has amassed 941 runs from 41 matches in T20s.