Waugh backs Ponting, says captaincy a demanding job

Melbourne, Nov 13 (UNI) Former captain Steve Waugh has thrown his weight behind Ricky Ponting saying that leading a team is a very demanding job and added that people must stop blaming skipper for the series loss in India.

''Until you become captain of the Australian cricket team you don't really understand the demands,'' Waugh wrote in 'The Daily Telegraph' today.

''Sometimes issues linger and people won't move on, but if you are leader people expect you to do so. Ricky Ponting will do that next week. Let's allow him to get on with it and not dwell on what might have been,'' Waugh added.

The 1999 World Cup winning captain further agreed that Ponting did show his concerns for the over-rate against India in the last Test at Nagpur, but he added that if the tactics would have worked, Ponting would been lablelled a genius.

''What has shocked many was that we went against our instincts and let the match meander by being concerned about over rates until the chance had vapourised.

''If Ricky's tactics worked he would have been labelled a genius by killing two birds with one stone but in hindsight they probably killed Australia's chance to square the series, which would have been a tremendous achievement,'' Waugh wrote.

Waugh said captaincy involves a lot of aspects besides leading the side and even recalled his own experiences to prove his point.

''At various times for me it meant being a psychologist, adviser, mate, mentor, mediator, selector, advocate, mouthpiece and politician.

''When I was captain there were about fifty press conferences per year, endless meetings with Board officials, match referees and various administrators, selection hook-ups, speeches at team functions and working with the coach and senior players on game plans and tactics,'' he added.

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