Ponting says change of coach was good

Former Australian captain Ricky Ponting says Mickey Arthur’s regime appeared to putting too much pressure on players.

Ponting believes it was the right call to switch immediately to new coach Darren Lehmann.

The champion batsman said Lehmann’s appointment two weeks out from the Ashes could make an instant impact.

“The bottom line for me is that maybe the players had been put under too much pressure by the previous regime and that pressure needs to be released now,” Ponting wrote in a column for The Daily Mail.

“It’s hard to judge from afar but they seem to have been too scared to play the way they can.

“It’s not a question of trying to live up to the great names of Australia’s past, it’s a question of the current group playing as well as they can.

“Changes like this happen all the time in international sport.

“Look at English football and how often a club changes managers. Often switches lead to an upturn in fortunes and we will see if that happens to the Australia team now.”

Ponting said Lehmann would make his players feel valued and would adopt the aggressive approach needed to tame England.

Set to retire from all cricket at the end of the year, Ponting finished his international career in December under Arthur, and said at that time there were no divisions in the team.

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