Melbourne: Australian cricket is going through one of the worst phases of all time. The Test team have lost last five matches on trot, and are standing on the verge of getting whitewashed consecutively, after losing the Test series in Sri Lanka 3-0.
Former Kangaroos skipper Ricky Ponting says Australia are suffering a brain drain as cricketing greats are opting for well paid commentator jobs ahead of coaching.
The former batsman is also in fray for the national selectors job along with Steve Waugh and Jason Gillespie, after Rod Marsh quit from the post of Cricket Australia chairman of selectors.
“Cricket Australia know this, I’ve been telling them this for a hundred years – they have to look at maybe paying State coaches more and trying to get the so-called experts in the game,” Ponting was quoted as saying by Alloutcricket.com.
“And it’s the same in England. If you look through the greats of the game, how many of those guys are actually back inside the system coaching somewhere? They’re not, they’re all sitting back behind a microphone commentating because they get paid more and it’s less intrusive time-wise. I think it’s something that needs to be looked at,” Ponting added.
