Ponting baffled by Australia’s poor form

SYDNEY: Australia captain Ricky Ponting is baffled by his team’s poor run of form but concedes the “doom and gloom” around the team will only be dispelled when they start winning again.

Australia were outplayed by Sri Lanka in the second of three one-dayers on Friday to lose their seventh straight match in all forms of the game, just 20 days before the start of the Ashes series against England.

“There’s a lot of doom and gloom around about this team and about Australian cricket, I think we all feel a lot more positive inside the dressing room compared to what it looks like from the outside,” Ponting said.

“But we can change what it looks like from the outside by starting winning games, we’re all very aware of that.

Ponting said he did not think the approach of the Ashes was behind the poor run of form.

Returning to the theme, he conceded that perhaps the team had been guilty of “thinking too far ahead”.

“Listen, the Ashes are a fair way away yet and we’ve got to stop talking about it and thinking about it,” he added. “We have to make sure that we’re looking at Sunday first and foremost and turning our fortunes around there, then we worry about the next game after that.”