Australia vs Sri Lanka : Ponting to keep aggression under control

Ricky Ponting is tired of talks regarding his dressing room TV smashing episode. Forever under the spotlight for his flare-ups, the Australian skipper wants to put an end to it all, promising to never travel down that road again.

Former skipper Ian Chappel recently wrote that an angry Ponting might be a good thing for the Australians and could be the spark the team requires.

But Ponting, on the eve of a highstakes game against Sri Lanka here on Saturday, said that he and his team will just concentrate on channeling the aggression on the field and in their performance. “All of us need to be playing in the Australian way, which means a lot of aggression on the field. However, it is not necessary that we go over the top with the aggression bit,” he said on Friday.

His counterpart Kumar Sangakkara didn’t want to read much into the form of Sri Lanka’s middle order, having faith in them to come good. “I don’t see any need for drastic changes in the middle order. They players have scored the runs and it’s the responsibility of the batsman to make sure that he gets out there and scores, whatever the situation,” Sangakkara said.

There is a distinct possibility of the hosts playing three spinners against the Aussies and Sangakkara said the thought did cross the mind of the management. “It’s a possibility that we are exploring. We will have a chat during training today to see if it’s the best way to play Australia or not. We have got three great spinners and few handy part-timers in the line-up.”