Ponting Calls For Russell To Reinvent Himself

Ponting Calls For Russell To Reinvent Himself
December 30, 2016 3:53 am

Andre Dwayne Russell, the 28-year-old Jamaica and West Indies all-rounder has commanded the attention of pundits and fans since he made his first-class debut at the tender age of 19 in 2007.

Now, five years into playing international cricket, Russell’s cricket prowess is world renowned.

He is “A batsman who hits the ball hard enough to make the inanimate thing scream for mercy, he functions primarily as a finisher. He generates, even more, pace with the ball in hand and when it is anywhere near him in the field, it doesn’t matter at what pace it’s traveling. Russell will probably get to it. He is less a cricketer, in the traditional sense than an athlete,” an apt description by espncricinfo.com.

However, of late, this alpha cricketer has been tagged with a number of unflattering headlines such as “Andre Russell faces possible ban,” “West Indies’ Andre Russell misses third drug test in a year,” “Russell continues to struggle in BBL,” and “Russell’s black bat banned by Cricket Australia.”

In the meantime, Russell has failed to fire in his three outings for his team Sydney Thunder in the Australia Big Bash League.

Consequently, this has forced former Australia captain Ricky Ponting to call for Russell to reinvent himself.

Ponting posited the view that bowlers in the BBL have identified the short ball as a weak area for Russell and are currently exploiting this weakness.

“You have to be able to reinvent yourself as a player,” Ponting said in a press report.

“Every team picked this (short-ball weakness) up on Andre Russell last year, and he hasn’t changed. Nothing’s changed. And they’re going to attack him even more in that region this season.”

“We’ve already seen in game three he could have been out three times to a similar delivery.”

Russell was out for eight in his team’s three-wicket loss to the Brisbane Heat, miscuing a powerful drive to be caught on the long-off boundary.

Apart from his dismissal against the Heat, Russell has been caught behind and bowled in his other innings.

Carol Maye, Readers Bureau, Fellow

Same can be said of Polly .

Badree and Narine are the only ones showing progress.

The same can be said of Polly, though I personally agree that he should quit. This is not for everyone. Nor is it for the faint of heart.