Ponting denies tiff with Lee, says he feared of suspension

Melbourne, Oct 24 (PTI) Crying hoarse in denying he had a
tiff with Brett Lee, Australia captain Ricky Ponting said the
fear of suspension, following the team's slow over-rate, was
behind his decision not to bowl the speedster in the morning
session on day four of the Mohali Test.

In a column headlined "Truth about my 'tiff' with Binga"
in 'The Australian', Ponting sought to project that everything
was well between him and Lee.

"Whatever may have been said and written in recent days,
I can assure everyone there is absolutely no problem between
Brett Lee and me," Ponting said at the outset.

Insisting the slow over-rate had become a concern for him
and hence he could not afford bowling with Lee, Ponting said,
"Our discussion just before lunch on the fourth day of the
second Test was all about over rates and our struggle to
maintain them, particularly when India was scoring so freely."

"What Brett couldn't understand is that Mitchell Johnson
and Peter Siddle had the chance to bowl before him. But by the
time I wanted to bowl Brett, we were five overs behind on our
over rate.

"If he were to come on and we went six or seven overs
down then I could be suspended under the I.C.C. playing
conditions for slow over rates," Ponting explained.

Besides this, Ponting said he was trying to take the pace
off the ball to restrict India's free-scoring batsmen.

"Brett was obviously disappointed he didn't bowl in the
first session and didn't know the reason until I told him late
in the session. He knew he wasn't going to be opening up in
the morning because we wanted to take the pace off the ball
and try to limit India's batting early on," he argued.

Ponting said maintaining a healthy over-rate was very
important, especially when the side didn't have the likes of
Shane Warne who would rush through his overs, while keeping
the opponent under pressure all along.

"...there are other things I have to think about on the
field as well. We talk about over rates at every team meeting.
We get behind and I'm forced to bowl guys I sometimes don't
want to bowl in the circumstances," Ponting said.

"It's unusual that Mike Hussey bowls for us, although he
did a reasonable job. That indicates I was trying to get
through the overs without giving the batsmen the option of
just running down the wicket and hitting the spinners back
over their heads.

"...And there is no Shane Warne to get through plenty of
overs of quality spin quickly while always putting the batsmen
under pressure," Ponting added.

"Another thing we have to do better as a team is maintain
our over rate. Over rates really do my head in. You can't
afford to slip behind all the time.

"But some of our bowlers have a long run-up and a long
follow-through. It takes a lot of time to get through their
overs," Ponting elaborated.

The Australian captain said Lee has been off-colour in
this series so far and the bowler himself is aware of that.

"Brett knows he is below his best, but he is not alone
there. The other experienced blokes, Matthew Hayden, myself
and Michael Clarke, have also not done as well as we should
have and we need Stuart Clark fit and firing after he missed
the second Test with an elbow injury," Ponting said. PTI AY
DEP