Ponting backs review of Australian game

SYDNEY: Ricky Ponting on Monday welcomed an upcoming review of Australian cricket following his side's Ashes drubbing, saying the whole structure of the game needed to be examined.

Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland said on Friday that the game would undergo a thorough review of all facets following the humiliating 3-1 Test series loss to fierce rivals England.

Writing in The Australian newspaper, Ponting said any review needed to go beyond Test cricket and study all levels of the game.

"There is a review after every season, of which I'm always a big part," Ponting wrote.

"I understand there will be a lot more involved in the review this time around and rightly so.

"It's going to be a lot more in-depth than I've ever been involved in and probably as big as those conducted when Australia was really struggling in the mid-80s."

The beleaguered skipper, who had a miserable series with the bat, said despite Australia's much-lauded domestic Sheffield Shield competition, the country was not producing enough Test-quality players.

"The performance of the elite team over the past few weeks has been very disappointing," he wrote.

"But I think it's important we look a fair bit deeper into Australian cricket than just the last couple of weeks.

"It's going to be really interesting to see what the review brings up.

"I think the whole structure of Australian cricket needs looking at."

Ponting said state cricket would have to come under the microscope, adding he was not sure it was as strong as it needed to be, and said club cricket and junior cricket also needed to be looked at.

"There are a lot of things we can look at, but right at the moment it appears as though we're not producing enough high-quality Test cricketers," he wrote.

Ponting conceded Australia, who have slipped to fifth in the Test rankings after many years at the top, had been outplayed by a rampant England.

"All of England's players stuck to their plans and executed them well," he wrote.

"They have been well rewarded for that. When we were batting or bowling we were not disciplined enough or skilled enough in the moments that really mattered. That's the difference between the teams at the moment."