Former Australian captain and selector Allan Border has urged the selectors to turn back the clock and reinstate Ricky Ponting as the one-day captain.
In what may be viewed a step backwards for the team rising from the Ashes defeat last summer, Australia's most capped Test captain believes the former skipper is the right man to replace the injured Michael Clarke.
Clarke will miss Friday's match against Sri Lanka and is in doubt for Sunday's clash against India with a hamstring strain he suffered while fielding in Australia's four-wicket loss to India last weekend.
With regular vice-captain Shane Watson missing with a calf injury and Brad Haddin not in the initial squad after being rested for the first three games of the tri-series, Border said Ponting was the logical choice to take the reins.
''It might seem a bit odd but Ponting is the senior guy and it would be a seamless transition back to Ricky, just for the short term,'' Border said yesterday.
Speaking at the Ricky Stuart Foundation celebrity pro-am at Royal Canberra, Border also suggested Haddin might be better suited focusing only on Test cricket after the emergence of Victorian wicketkeeper Matthew Wade.
''There is no need for Haddin to come back [to the one-day team],'' Border said.
''It just depends on what the selectors are thinking but if it is long term, he might be better off concentrating on Test cricket.
''He could easily come back into the [one-day] side, it is just that Matty Wade has done a great job and if you give blokes an opportunity, to run the risk of not forcing your way back in, and at the moment I think the selectors will stick with Matty Wade.''
Haddin's resting from the one-day squad and Wade's subsequent strong performances have again brought up debate about the Australian cricket's use of a rotation policy. Border would rather see ''natural attrition'' where players are only rested if they are carrying slight niggling injuries.
''I am not a huge fan [of a rotation policy], I just like to pick your best and fittest side on the day,'' he said.
''I know myself and a lot of the guys don't like being rotated; if you are in good form and you are playing well, you don't want to be rotated out of the side ... otherwise you are just giving someone else the chance to cement themselves in the team.''
Leg-spinning great Stuart MacGill views the rotation policy differently, especially when dealing with Australia's burgeoning pace attack.
''I really don't mind [a rotation policy], and think that they need to put fast bowlers in cotton wool because if they can win you a game when they come back it is worth looking after,'' he said.
Cricket Australia will name the captain and squad for the next block of the tri-series today.
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