Former Australian captain Ricky Ponting doesn’t think that any team has ever performed as badly on the Australian soil as the current England Test team has done in the ongoing Ashes series.
England has been whitewashed in Ashes in Australia in the past and on one of those occasions, Ponting himself was the captain of Australia, but he thinks the current England team just lacks quality and he is also of the view that the ECB needs to consider some changes in the domestic circuit of English cricket back home.
According to Ricky Ponting, when Australia struggled in England on a couple of tours, Cricket Australia changed quite a few things in the Australian domestic circuit. There was a deliberate attempt to make the surfaces in Australia slightly more seamer-friendly. Different balls were used as well just to make sure that the Australian batsmen don’t struggle when they go overseas again.
ECB might have to think on similar lines. Ponting is also totally unimpressed with the technique that he has seen the English top-order batsmen operate with. In a conversation with cricket.com.au, Ponting said that he wouldn’t name the players, but watching some of them bat, it looks almost certain that their technique won’t work at the international level against the test match bowlers.
They won’t get to face dibby dobbly bowlers in test cricket: Ricky Ponting
In Ponting’s opinion, test match cricket is very different from what the English batsmen face in the county circuit, where “dibbly dobbly” bowlers create a lot of impacts. When they arrive at the test level, they face far tougher challenge because bowlers in test cricket are of a completely different kind than the ones bowling in the county circuit.
England captain Joe Root had himself said in the post-match press conference after the third test defeat that “best players of county game” are on this tour of Australia and England’s whole approach might need a reset.
