Pitch it short to put Ponting in a hole, says Gayle

Windies skipper Chris Gayle urges opposition teams to attack Ricky Ponting

Pitch it short to put Ponting in a hole, says Gayle

In his syndicated column this morning, Gayle writes: "We showed a lot of guts and determination and who knows what would have happened if we had not had injuries at crucial moments in the series.

Australia skipper Ricky Ponting is struck on the elbow by a short delivery from Kemar Roach of the West Indies during Day One of the third Test in Perth on December 16. Pic/getty images

"Maybe having Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Adrian Barath would have changed the result in Perth.

"But having said that, the guys who stepped up to the plate, which is a great sign for West Indies cricket."

Gayle, man of the match at Perth and man of the series, goes on to say that his bowlers exposed Ricky Ponting's problems against the short ball.

"Our plan to bowl short at him worked really well and I think they are tactics other teams can use with a lot of success against him.

"Ricky is a person who will always hook and pull those are some of his favourite shots but they can also be his major weakness. If you have a bowler with a bit of pace, I think you can give him some real trouble.

"Other teams should study the way Kemar Roach bowled to him," Gayle writes.

"He just tried to hustle him, bowled at his body and get him to hook or pull and Ricky definitely looked very uncomfortable. The plans we came up weren't from watching videos of Ricky, they were just my gut instinct.

"Having said that, it will be a huge loss if Ricky is out of the Boxing Day Test against Pakistan.

"If he is missing, it could play a big part in the Test. You never know what might happen Pakistan might just be a chance."

Ponting has slipped down the ICC rankings to 14th after his disappointing 23 retired hurt and two in the Perth Test. Gautam Gambhir leads the Test batting table with Sri Lankans Mahela Jayawerdene No 2 and Kumar Sangakkara No 3. Australian vice-captain Michael Clarke is at No 6.

India head the ICC Test rankings with 124 points, followed by South Africa 122, Australia 116, Sri Lanka 115, England 105, Pakistan 83, New Zealand 81, West Indies 77 and Bangladesh 13.

Reacting to the ugly incidents that marred the recently-concluded series, Pakistan fast bowler and manager of the touring team Waqar Younis says fans want to see aggressive cricket, so long as it is not "dirty".

Saying his team were here to play positive cricket, Waqar said he enjoyed seeing things heat up during the third Test at Perth.

Pak talk
"In a way it is nice to see because you want to see aggressive cricket, and you want to see positive cricket and people wanting to win the game.

"As long as it is not dirty, that is what you want to see. I don't mind our boys getting out there and taking the other teams on."

Throwing down the gauntlet, Pakistani spin bowler Saeed Ajmal has said that having a doosra in an off spinner's bag of tricks is essential to survive in international cricket these days and that Australian bowlers are" just off spinners".

He said Shane Warne "the legend had lots of variety. But these days the Australian spinners are just off spinners and it's not like they are taking five and six wickets every match, maybe two."

Ajmal, the team's third string spinner who may not get a chance to play in a Test in the forthcoming series, added that the Australian batsmen would struggle against the doosra.

Meanwhile, there has been considerable speculation that Pakistani-born opening batsman Usman Khawaja, who scored an impressive 107 for New South Wales in the ongoing Sheffield Shield match against Victoria, may be called in as possible cover for the injured Ponting for the Melbourne Test, although Phil Hughes is front runner.

Hughes, a ward of Indian-born Neil D'Costa, who is currently coaching at the Nagpur cricket academy, is widely considered a long-term prospect as Test opener.

Sydney-domiciled 23-year Khawaja has scored two Sheffield Shield centuries in the past two weeks and aggregates 485 this season at an impressive average of 60.

However, some writers argue that Khawaja, who could be the first Pakistani-born to wear the baggy green, should not be rushed into Test cricket.

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