CAPE TOWN: Australia’s batting superman Ricky Ponting is “frustrated” and hopes his powers continue to work just as well with a new range of bats for the first Test starting today against South Africa.
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The Australian skipper smashed 1544 Test runs at 67.13 in 2005, the second-highest tally in history, but has been forced to shed his graphite-backed weapon after a ruling by the International Cricket Council.
The ruling to outlaw the Ka-huna bat came after the Mary-lebone Cricket Club, the keeper of the game’s laws, decided last month the bat breached the laws.
Test cricket’s No.1-ranked batsman gave his favourite Kookaburra bat one last hit-out in Sunday’s historic one-day international in Johannesburg, scoring a brilliant 164 in his side’s world-record total of 4/434 before South Africa got up by one wicket with 9/438.
“It’s frustrating having to change my graphite-covered Kahuna, particularly after scoring 164 on Sunday, but I’m extremely pleased with the new bat that Kookaburra has developed at such short notice,” Ponting said in Cape Town yesterday.
“I’m looking forward to using it for the first time against the South African bowling attack in the forthcoming Test series.
“I’ve had a few net sessions with it over the last couple of days and, as I expected, it feels great, so I hope it will bring me as many runs as my previous bat.”
Ponting’s new blade is an updated version of the “The Ricky Ponting Kahuna”, the Kookaburra bat-making company said yesterday.
The Australian No.3 was the first international cricketer to use a Kookaburra graphite-covered bat in December, 2004.
Since then, he has scored 3645 runs in all forms of international cricket.
