Ponting's Australians need a canny spinner to be unbeatable

Sydney, Mar.11 (ANI): Australian cricket captain Ricky Ponting and his side have deservedly retained their position as the best Test cricket side after handing out a two-nil series defeat to the South Africans, but if they add a canny spinner and improve catching around the bat, they will be hard to beat.

According to Peter Roebuck, Australia's new team is a work in progress, but adds that lessons in cricket history should not be ignored.

For instance, he says that the West Indies showed between the mid-1970s to mid-1990s that it was possible to retain the top spot without a proper spinner, but they had four great fast bowlers to back them. After 1995, that team suffered because captaincy and bowling skills were lost and it has taken almost 15 years to restore the side's pride with a series triumph against England.

In an article for the Sydney Morning Herald, Roebuck says that Ponting's side cannot be expected to overwhelm opponents in the old way.

Admittedly, a side that was mentally much stronger on the field of play, and took all steps to reinvigorate itself after the retirement of several stalwarts, trounced the South Africans.

On the fifth and final day of play in the Durban Test, consternation could be sensed in the Australian camp, as bat continued to dominate ball.

Johnson, Siddle and Simon Katich took up the cudgels and produced sizzling performances to snuff out the Proteas challenge. (ANI)