MELBOURNE – Former Australian skipper Steve Waugh on Monday tipped wicketkeeper-batsmen Brad Haddin or Tim Paine as future national captains as pressure intensified on incumbent Ricky Ponting.
In his assessment Waugh overlooked vice-captain Michael Clarke as Ponting’s heir apparent and raised the possibility of either Haddin or Paine taking over after the five-Test Ashes series, which ends in Sydney next week. “That’s the burning question right now: who potentially is the next captain?” Waugh said on Nine Network television on Monday.
“Obviously, Ricky is still there right now. If he wasn’t to be there tomorrow, you would assume Michael Clarke would get the role. “He’s been groomed for it, he’s done it in the shorter form of the game and done pretty well.
“But for some reason there’s question marks over Michael Clarke.” “I always believe there’s three or four players in the side who can captain the team, but probably haven’t revealed those skills because they haven’t had the chance,” he said.
“Haddin’s had a bit of experience, but the one who I think is interesting that I think about is probably Tim Paine. He gets a few mentions. Waugh said Ponting’s second innings in the fourth Melbourne Test as one of the most important of his 152-Test career.
“It’s a difficult one. There’s a lot of pressure and everyone’s talking about his game and he’ll be feeling under pressure.
“He knows that he’s still capable of scoring runs and I felt the same way (towards the end of my career) — everyone’s having a crack at you saying you should retire, but I knew in myself that I still had some good innings left. “The next innings is where he’s going to be walking out to the crease feeling enormous pressure. “He just needs to say to himself: ‘I’ve done this before, I’ve been there. Just trust yourself and try and relax'”.
