Former captain Ricky Ponting believes that Tim Paine should be made a national selector. Australia losing their first home series to India has put the spotlight on the selection panel and the misfiring top order. Nathan Coulter-Nile and Ashton Agar respectively labelled the communication from selectors as “poor” and “vague” this week following their omissions from Australia’s one-day squad.
“I’ve got enough on my plate at the moment,” Paine said when asked if he’d like to join the panel with the chairman of selectors Trevor Hohns, coach Justin Langer and national talent manager Greg Chappell.
“I’m happy when I’m asked my opinion and will give it. As for down the track, I wouldn’t mind a crack at it in four or five years.”
Ponting conceded that the job of being a selector is a “thankless task”, but also maintains that the Australian captain should have a seat in the selection meeting.
“I said when I was playing, as captain I was desperate to be an actual selector,” Ponting told cricket.com.au. “More (for) communication reasons than anything else, it wasn’t because I didn’t always get the team I wanted.
“To be accountable and to be able to communicate well among your players, I thought it was vital that the captain could pass on his views to the players directly. I don’t know if that’s happening now or not.
