Australia yet to find a wicketkeeper-batsman for tournament, says Ricky Ponting

Australia are yet to find a wicketkeeper-batsman for T20 World Cup later this year, said former skipper Ricky Ponting who also added that his personal preference for the role is not among 23 players picked for the white-ball series in the West Indies.

“The keeper-batsman is probably the slot they’d be losing the most sleep over right now,” Ponting was quoted as saying by cricket.com.au on Saturday.

“They’ve still got some questions to answer as far as what their overall squad looks like and I think the biggest one is ‘Who is going to be standing behind the stumps with the gloves on?’,” added Ponting, who himself has been part of the Australia’s coaching staff for T20 cricket and was the assistant in 2019 World Cup.

Wicketkeeper-batsmen Alex Carey, Matthew Wade and Josh Philippe were named recently in an extended 23-man squad. But the squad will be whittled down before five T20Is and three ODIs against West Indies in July, and five T20Is against Bangladesh in Dhaka.

“They have tried a few blokes — Wade has been there, Phillipe has just played as a batter, Alex Carey has been in and out and tried in a few different batting spots,” added Ponting.

The 46-year-old Aussie, who is also the coach of Delhi Capitals, picked his ideal choice – John Inglis. However, Inglis is not even in Australia’s squad of 23.

“Josh Inglis’s name could be thrown into the ring as well — I really liked what I saw from him batting in the middle order in last summer’s BBL.

“He plays spin really well and you think about where the World Cup is going to be (in India or the UAE), he could be a name that could come up (for selection).”

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