‘We’re struggling without our stars’

Australia’s decision to rest two of their champion players had made winning in New Zealand a huge task, according to Brad Hodge. Ricky Ponting and Adam Gilchrist could both have played in the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy but were given a break after a demanding summer of Test and one-day cricket.

Hodge said the absence of the captain and vice-captain, combined with the loss of Andrew Symonds to a serious arm injury, had hurt Australia’s on-field efforts. “If you take probably three of the best one-day cricketers of all time out of that side, you’re going to struggle,” Hodge told AAP.

“Minus Gilchrist, Ponting and Symonds they’re pretty hard guys to fill their shoes. They’d make any world side in modern day cricket, so with them out it’s awfully difficult to fill their shoes, and the guys who’ve just come in, finding your feet and finding the right mix, it’s not as simple as it seems.” Read more
Courtesy:ind.cricinfo.com

This entry was posted on Monday, February 19th, 2007 at 4:43 am and is filed under Australia, New Zealand. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.