MELBOURNE, Dec 23: Former South African great Barry Richards has advised Australian captain Ricky Ponting to “dramatically change” his thinking on placement of fielders as this was hurting the team.

Barry said Ponting should have set more conservative fields for Brett Lee and Jason Krejza, who ended up conceding four runs per over to lose against South Africa at Perth, which witness the hosts second defeat in a row at WACA. “His thinking is still about setting fields for McGrath and Warne and he has not got the cattle to do that,” Richards said.

“He had two bowlers [Lee and Krejza] who were leaking four runs an over. Ponting is used to so much success, this is really hard for him. You have to have a different strategy,” he was quoted as saying by the Daily Telegraph.

Richards said a captain has to have a plan for players like South Africa skipper Graeme Smith had.—Agencies