Ponting underwhelmed by Clarke 'over-rated' claims

In the Australian team Michael Clarke is viewed as a reliable vice-captain and the most consistent batsman in the team, but the outlook from over the fence is less glowing if a News Ltd survey can be believed. Clarke is the country's most over-rated cricketer according to the results, a claim which was immediately dismissed by a confused Ricky Ponting.

"No one can doubt his cricket ability," Ponting said of his deputy. "He's a highly talented player who has played as well as most other players around the world in the last couple of years. As far as Michael being over-rated, that's a bit harsh."

Only 14% of the respondents chose Clarke as the most over-hyped, but he was still ahead of Shane Watson (11%) and Shaun Tait (10%). Ponting said the public perception of his men was often misplaced and that surveys returned results that "don't make a load of sense".

"To tell the truth, I'm not sure the public know a lot of us that well," he said. "It's very hard what we do, being probably reasonably public images out on the field playing and training all the time, but as I've always explained it, it's a helmet on, helmet off sort of scenario. Everyone sees you with your helmet on and how you play your cricket, and makes judgments on how you are on the field. Quite often it can be a fair way away from the way you are off the field."

Ponting said the focus was something a lot of international sportsmen struggled with, but he felt his players in their "everyday people" roles did their best to combine promoting the game with doing the right thing by themselves. Clarke is on billboards selling energy drinks, on television advertisements catching tennis balls in his undies, in the celebrity pages with his model fiancée, and a high-profile part of Cricket Australia's campaigns.

In between all his off-field duties this year he has guided Australia's batting through the unsuccessful Ashes campaign, scoring 448 runs at 64, and been promoted to lead the country's Twenty20 side following Ponting's retirement. "I'm 28 so a lot of the guys can relate to me," Clarke said during the week.

Ponting also defended Andrew Hilditch, the chairman of selectors, with 73% of people in the survey voting he should be sacked. Hilditch and his panel have been under fire for the past year for the side's results in India, Australia and England, and the criticism reached its peak after the Ashes loss at The Oval, where no spinner was chosen on a turning surface.

"I don't think the selectors have done too much wrong in the last two years," Ponting said. "Quite often when you're in those sorts of positions you're on a hiding to nothing. You try and do everything right by Australian cricket with the way you look at the team and pick the team and you still have people calling for your head."