« Back to article

Print this article

Who should succeed Ricky Ponting?

Australian cricketer Alex Doolan may have the perfect chance to force his way into Australia's Test team this week, but the talented Tasmanian reckons both Phil Hughes and Rob Quiney are more worthy contenders than him.

Doolan's name is amongst the contenders to replace retiring champion Ricky Ponting, who leaves enormous shoes to fill in the middle of the Australian batting lineup.

Hard to ignore Hughes

But despite his own impressive numbers, the affable Doolan says if he was a selector he would find it hard to ignore Hughes, and would also like to see Quiney, who scored nine runs in three Test innings against South Africa, given another crack, News.com.au reports.

"If I was picking the team I'd probably put Phil Hughes in there just simply through weight of runs. It seems every time he steps onto the crease he's hitting runs and hitting them at good pace and in a consistent way," said Doolan.

'Quiney deserves it as much as anyone'

According to the report, Quiney is a popular member of the Australian cricketing family and made a good impression on selectors despite his lack of runs, which included a pair in the drawn Adelaide Test, prompting Doolan to say he has more to offer Test cricket.

"I'm not saying that I'd be happy to have someone picked ahead of me but I think Bobby (Quiney) deserves it as much as anyone. I really hope he gets another crack at it," said Doolan.

"He deserved his call-up to the national team and obviously results didn't go his way but that just shows what the game is. It's a fickle game and sometimes results don't go your way but I've no doubt he's Test quality and I'm sure he'd show it if he got another go," he added.

'Need to keep putting runs on the board'

The modest Doolan insisted that he is just pleased simply to be in the discussion with the likes of Hughes, Quiney and Usman Khawaja, the report said.

"If I keep putting runs on the board then hopefully I can continue to have my name spoken amongst those guys," the 27-year-old said.