Good decision by him. The pressure will seriously be on him to bounce back from the series loss at home and with big tours coming up this mickey mouse stuff can just sit on the back burner for a while.
playing in the IPL is a massive payday, i wonder if the ACB have slipped him some cash not to play and set an example ?? but i cant see to many others missing out.
I don't think he's given up playing in the IPL because his allegiance lies with the baggy green. If that were the case why did he play in the tournament to begin with? It would just make him the biggest hypocrite.
Isnt his decision more to do with his playing schedule and wanting to spend more time with his family.
I bet anything when he retires from cricket Ponting will be back playing in the IPL?
Personally, i think anyone he knocked back playing in the IPL without a good reason (eg. wanting to spend time with family, wanting to play ODI/test cricket if they were on at the same time as IPL) is dead set insane, for the following reasons.
1) In the IPL you would get to play with and against some of the all time greats of Intenational cricket.
2) The experience you would get playing with people from other nations would be in my estimation, invaluable especially for the younger players.
3) With 20/20 set to be the future of World Cricket and perhaps replacing ODI's, the IPL is the perfect tournament to test/hone your skills against the best in the world.
Boris mate they are professional athletes and earn bug bucks. I must admit I find it interesting that it is mostly Australians are not playing in the IPL. Is the money they are earning that big?
Think it's a generation thing as much as anything else. The old school Aussie cricketer seems to have a mistrust of the shortest form of the game and they seem to shy way from it.
It's not just the generational thing either, the younger blokes like Warner, or the fringe Australian players like Nannes will take the money (for good reason) because they don't really have a steady cashflow like the regular members of the Aussie side.
Also when they finish their careers, who's going to remember the great Twenty20 players, I mean, you look at Michael Bevan; he was a great ODI batsmen, but won't be remembered as a great because he failed at the highest level - Test Match cricket.
However, in saying that I despise T20 and would love nothing more than to see it abolished.
It's not just the generational thing either, the younger blokes like Warner, or the fringe Australian players like Nannes will take the money (for good reason) because they don't really have a steady cashflow like the regular members of the Aussie side.
Also when they finish their careers, who's going to remember the great Twenty20 players, I mean, you look at Michael Bevan; he was a great ODI batsmen, but won't be remembered as a great because he failed at the highest level - Test Match cricke.
However, in saying that I despise T20 and would love nothing more than to see it abolished.
Australian cricket players are never raised as cricket players. Yes they might play cricket here and there in their childhood, but they never consider it more then a hobby until they get to about state level. Nobody really takes it seriously.
Until the players get to that level they don't consider that they will ever play cricket for a job. A great deal of state players still have another job to support them, especially in the off season.
Once they reach international level the amount of money they get, especially if you are good enough, sky rockets. The Australian way is to live off just enough money and no more. You see them, yes they live in fancy houses with fancy cars, but not mansions and not luxury cars. They have families that they still put through public schooling. That means they have a heck of a lot of money left over. They don't need all that extra suppelment for themselves, just to put the kids through uni and put a lot of it to them in your will.
Those that do play are considered greedy. Who needs that much money? Why do they get that much money for standing around a field for three hours? They are the thoughts of the public AND other players within the team.
Ponting has lead the way with showing that it is unecessary to get that much money. Clarke has always been like that. I am betting that a lot of the rest of the team will give a large part of it a rest.
We have pride in our country. That is the way everyone else I have talked to knows it as. There is no reason to go running about the world looking for easy cash when you could be at home with your wife and children, the greatest pleasure an Australian man could wish for.
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