“The best player should bat at No.3 and I think he’s clearly our best player right now”

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Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting believes that current skipper Steven Smith should bat at number three in Test matches.

Ponting’s comments come after Smith indicated that he was leaning towards occupying fourth place on the batting line-up.

“I’ve always said, the best player should bat at No.3 and I think he’s clearly our best player right now,” Ponting told reporters. “He’s an exceptionally driven young bloke.

“He wants to be the greatest player of all time and that’s a great thing to have. He wants to be the greatest player that Australia’s had and that’s fantastic.

“He’ll have a great relationship with the coach, he’ll have a great relationship with the selectors, because that’s just the sort of kid that he is, and he’ll make sure everyone in that dressing room is treated the same way.”

Even though Australia were beaten 3-2 in the recent Ashes series against England, Ponting is confident that the Baggy Greens will bounce back with victories over New Zealand and the West Indies.

“I have no concerns at all with Australian cricket,” he said. “Yes, we lost the Ashes … (but) if you look at what we’ve done for the last couple of years, everyone we’ve come up against, we’ve won well whether that’s home or away.

“We’ll beat New Zealand and we’ll beat the West Indies comfortably, that’s the way I see the summer going.”