Fatigue won't be a problem: Ponting by CricketArchive Staff Reporter

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Player:	RT Ponting
Event:	ICC Champions Trophy 2009/10

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DateLine: 22nd September 2009

 

Australia skipper Ricky Ponting insisted fatigue will not be a problem for his side during the ICC Champions Trophy following the England tour.

 

The Aussies arrived in England in May and embarked on a punishing schedule that has seen them compete in the World Twenty20 tournament, the five-Test Ashes series before finishing with the seven-match ODI series.

 

The tourists in England showed little signs of fatigue narrowly missing out on claiming a record-breaking series whitewash after falling to a four-wicket defeat to England in the final game at Chester-le-Street on Sunday.

 

The Aussies thouugh have just a four-day turnaround time between arriving in South Africa on Tuesday morning and their first match of the Champions Trophy against West Indies in Johannesburg on Saturday.

 

And although skipper Ponting agrees the international cricket calendar is becoming increasingly more hectic, he does not believe tiredness will be a factor for his side ahead of the brief two-week format of the Champions Trophy.

 

"We have been (concerned about the schedule) for a while," said Ponting, who earlier this month retired from international Twenty20 cricket to allow himself extra scope for rest.

 

"Players and players' associations have stressed how difficult it's becoming for international players to play at their best for four or five months at a time.

 

"There's a few players that have played the majority of those games through the past four or five months (of the England tour) so it's been tough on them.

 

"But we haven't got a lot of games in the Champions Trophy so we needed to have a certain number of games in our players before then.

 

"Therefore there will be no excuses in our team as to why their skills aren't up to shape.

 

"We know we've got a couple of weeks' break after the Champions Trophy, so let's hope we go there and peak at the right time and play as well as we have during this tournament."