Arthur: We need to fight off fatigue

Australia coach Mickey Arthur has urged his players to fight off fatigue as his side prepares to enter their 13^th game of the summer when they host India in their Commonwealth Bank One-Day International encounter in Brisbane on Sunday.

Arthur was speaking a day after his side’s eight-wicket defeat to Sri Lanka, a loss he called ‘unacceptable’ as Australia are in danger of missing out on the finals in the triangular series.

The former South African and Western Australian coach also said that stand-in captain in Ricky Ponting, who is out of form needs a rest but he can’t be afforded that luxury as he will once again lead the side against India in the absence of injured captain Michael Clarke.

“It [fatigue] is going to be a factor, there’s no doubt about it,” Arthur said in a media conference in Sydney on Saturday. “We’ve pushed the guys incredibly hard in terms of our intensity, and our expectation around them. Some guys are feeling the effects of that, but we know what the schedule is, we have to make sure we manage the boys correctly, and that we’ve got the guys up and firing come tomorrow.”

A tired looking Australian side will now fly to Brisbane to take on the world champions who have been well rested since their remarkable tie against Sri Lanka on Tuesday.

Out of form stand-in captain Ricky Ponting will once again lead the side and the Tasmanian who has a shocking ODI series (scoring just 2, 1, 6 and 2 in his four games) will look to break out of his form slump at the GABBA.

“If I have to be totally honest Ricky is a little bit jaded, like a couple of our Test players that have played all summer,” commented Arthur, “but that is the treadmill of international cricket, and they have to find a way to make their performances count and have an impact on the team.”

Arthur was asked why he didn’t ask vice-captain David Warner to lead the side instead of Ponting and the South African responded: “We saw some huge potential in Dave, we want to grow him as a leader, he definitely has that potential.”

“He’s not ready yet, and he knows that, and we’ve communicated that to him.”

“We brought Dave into the vice-captaincy position to be part of our leadership group, and to learn from Michael and I when we strategise our position. In terms of taking guys on the field right now, he’s not ready for that yet, and he understands that. I reckon he could be a great leader in a few years to come. You talk about succession planning, we need to find a leader, and he’s one of those guys on our radar.”

Arthur said he expected Ponting to roar back into form very soon, just like he did in the test series where he entered the Australian summer on a back of a poor tour of South Africa only to turn it around in the four-test series against India.

“Ricky is a class act, there is no way you can write off a champion like Ricky Ponting,” exclaimed Arthur. “He faced those same issues around the first couple of Test matches, and he came through the Test series, had a great series against India, and I hope he turns it around tomorrow.”