I Don't Think it's Right to Play Brisbane Test, Says Ricky Ponting
No decision has yet been made over whether the first Test between Australia and India at the Gabba will start on schedule on Thursday and former captain Ricky Ponting said he doubted the Australians would be mentally prepared to play cricket.
Former captain Ricky Ponting does not think it would be right for Australia's first Test against India in Brisbane next week to go ahead following the death of Phillip Hughes.
No decision has yet been made over whether the game at the Gabba will start on schedule on Thursday and Ponting said he doubted the Australians would be mentally prepared to play cricket. (Read: Australia in Deep Pain, Says Emotional Clarke)
"It's one thing to say Phillip Hughes would have wanted the four-Test series against India to start as scheduled," he wrote in a column for News Limited newspapers on Saturday.
"It's another for 11 men to take the field at the Gabba a week after their close friend died. (Hughes' Family Wants First India-Australia Test to Go On | India vs Australia Set to be Rescheduled)
"It's been such a tragic week for the Hughes family and the cricket community and I can't imagine how anybody can be expected to play Test cricket on Thursday. In fact I don't think it would be right.
"Even if the boys think they can play it would be a miracle if they find the right frame of mind needed for five days of cricket," said Ponting. (Hughes was Like a Brother to Mumbai Indians: Harbhajan)
Hughes' death on Thursday, two days after he was struck in the neck by a short-pitched delivery in a first-class game at the Sydney Cricket Ground, stunned the sports world. (Indian Players Wear Black Armbands, Train Indoors)
Tributes have poured in for the 25-year-old batsman and players from all domestic grades of cricket are to commemorate Hughes over the weekend with moments of silence and by wearing black armbands. (Hughes' death brings old foes India, Australia closer)