New Delhi: Legendary skipper Ricky Ponting has joined the Australian support staff for the team’s upcoming tour of England, the Cricket Australia website revealed on Wednesday.

Ponting — who worked an assistant coach for Australia’s T20 side twice before — will now be working along side former teammate and current head coach Justin Langer for five ODIs and one-off T20I against England, that is scheduled be played from June 13.

Langer hailed the appointment of Ponting and said that the players will benefit immensely from the vast experience that the former batsman brings to the table. Langer also felt that Ponting could play an important role in helping build a side that is capable of challenging for the ICC World Cup next year.

“Ricky is one of the greats of the game, and since he was already in England doing some commentary we saw it as a great opportunity to have him join our team for this important series. We have played a lot of cricket together and coached alongside each other previously, and he will also know many of the players already through his work with the team over the past two summers and his BBL commitments,” Langer was quoted as saying by Cricket Australia website.

“Ricky’s knowledge of the game is second-to-none, and we know that his experiences, tactical expertise and leadership will be invaluable for this group, as we start to build a team capable of winning a World Cup in these conditions in a year’s time,” the head coach added.

Recently, Ponting was the head coach of the Indian Premier League side Delhi Daredevils but his team failed to replicate the heroics that Punter used to produce time and again on the pitch as the IPL franchise finished at the bottom of the league table.

Source:@Cricketnext Staff