Noting that Ricky Ponting was still setting fields to suit retired legends Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne, former South African batting great Barry Richards advised the Australian captain to ‘dramatically change’ his thinking on placements for the current lot.

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.

"You cannot have 50 overs a day where you re giving away 200 runs. Your mindset on field placings has to change dramatically. Everyone thinks South Africa's spinner Paul Harris is a donkey bowler but he outbowled Jason Krejza by a mile.

"South Africa have a plan for Harris. He knows what he is trying to do. Krejza bowls a `four ball' every seven balls. He will drop short and a good player will always hit that in front of square for four," he said.

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