New Delhi, Nov 20 (IANS) Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting asserted that the home side needs a strong performance from Steve Smith to lead the five-Test Ashes, starting on Friday in Perth.

With Pat Cummins sidelined for the opening Test because of a back injury – and his availability for the second match in Brisbane still uncertain – Australia will again turn to Smith to lead the team.

Ponting believes Smith will thrive with the armband back on. Smith’s numbers as skipper are striking – he averages 68.98 when leading, almost 13 runs higher than his overall career mark of 56.02. In comparison, his average drops to 49.90 in matches where he isn’t the captain.

“I think his (batting) record as captain is better than it is as a player anyway,” Ponting said in the latest episode of The ICC Review.

“So his average is better than it is as a normal player. The fact that there’s a bit of conjecture around Australia’s top-order, I think, means that Smith needs to have a great series with the bat for Australia to win.

“There are always lots of people looking and talking and commenting on the way the captains go and as a captain, these are the moments that you live for.

“These series, being able to forge your reputation in Ashes series, whether you’re an Englishman in Australia or you’re the home captain, this is what we all play for. So I’m really looking forward to not just the battle between the two captains, but these two teams for me line up incredibly well and I can’t wait for Friday to come around.”

Ponting had initially tipped Josh Hazlewood to finish the Ashes as the top wicket-taker across both teams, but revised his prediction to fellow Australian Mitchell Starc after learning the seasoned quick would be unavailable for the opening Test in Perth.

“I actually had Hazlewood in as the leading wicket taker so I’m going to have to take that out now and I’ll go Mitchell Starc now as the leading wicket taker across the series. Who knows what’s going to happen if they happen to rest and rotate, that’s the thing that we don’t know.

“If Cummins comes back in and then Hazlewood comes back in a little bit later, there might be an opportunity that Starc misses one of those games. He won’t want to…but that’s the hardest thing I think about trying to pick a leading wicket-taker now is you just don’t know what they’re thinking about getting him through five Test matches. So I’ll go with Starc.

“And I just think everything is aligned perfectly for Steve Smith to be the leading run scorer. Back in that No.4 spot, has made hundreds in his last few Test matches that he’s played, freshened up off a break being in New York away from everything for a while, scores a 100 when he comes back in his first Sheffield Shield game.

“I think he averages over 60 with the bat as captain. And I just think that it probably should be an Australian to be leading run-scorer, just considering the conditions and how hard it generally is for touring teams here. I might be a little bit biased, but Starc with the wickets and Smith with the runs,” the former captain added.

–IANS

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