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- Oct 2, 2004
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Ricky Ponting says England’s problems at the Ashes are far from over despite what could be a momentum-shifting win at Headingley.
England tied the series in Leeds by completing its greatest ever successful run chase (359) two days after it was rolled by Australia for 67.
The one-wicket win - already considered as one of the greatest of all time - covered for shortcomings with England’s batting, which Ponting described as “woeful”.
Ponting told the Unplayable Podcast that he’s not a believer in momentum swings in Test series and that England’s batting order is still there for the taking.
“I think England has got as many questions to answer as Australia,” Ponting told the podcast after the third Test. “Their batting has looked woeful.
“Certainly their top order batting has looked poor and Jos Buttler is battling away, playing as a specialist batsman and batting at No.7 and offering very little so far so they’ve got some questions to answer too.”
A lean run with the bat has seen Buttler slip down the order from No.5 to No.7, below third Test hero Ben Stokes and wicketkeeper-batsman Jonny Bairstow. The right-hander is averaging just 9.16 for the series and made scores of five and one in Leeds.
He’s far from the only Englishman struggling this series with the bat.
Both Joe Root and Joe Denly boosted their series totals in the second innings at Headingley, but are still averaging just 29.33 and 24.50 respectively.
Their troubles pale in comparison to those of opener Jason Roy though.
His transition to Test cricket has been a failure to date - he averages 42.79 in ODIs but just 16.75 in the five-day game. Roy is also yet to pass double digits in his past four innings.
“It’s just a different game,” Ponting said of Roy switching from white ball to red ball.
“We’ve seen hundreds of players through time that have been able to dominate a white ball and then as soon as the ball changes colour they’ve got no idea.
“There have been a few. Jason Roy is probably exactly the same.”
Ponting pointed out the technical deficiencies on both sides, saying some of the batsmen in the series need everything going in their favour to score big.
Smith not changing a thingSmith not changing a thing1:09
He added: “It’s almost like they have to have everything go exactly right for them just to survive in the game.”
Ponting used England opener Rory Burns as an example after he made 133 at Edgbaston despite regularly being beaten by the bowlers throughout most of the innings.
“He played and missed 45 times,” Ponting said. “I don’t care how much the wicket does. All these things that they do wrong is just enough to survive in the game.
“The class players, they can do a lot of things wrong and still make runs. You see so many mistakes made by players, and I think Jason Roy will be a little bit like that.”
Ponting said one-day cricket is more forgiving to “little mistakes”, which the likes of Josh Hazlewood, Pat Cummins and James Pattinson can better exploit in a Test match.
The five-Test series resumes on Wednesday night, when Australia and England face off in the fourth Test at Old Trafford.
https://www.foxsports.com.au/cricke...g/news-story/5a4b65c5dcbfebbbac361bb5d4b8abda
England tied the series in Leeds by completing its greatest ever successful run chase (359) two days after it was rolled by Australia for 67.
The one-wicket win - already considered as one of the greatest of all time - covered for shortcomings with England’s batting, which Ponting described as “woeful”.
Ponting told the Unplayable Podcast that he’s not a believer in momentum swings in Test series and that England’s batting order is still there for the taking.
“I think England has got as many questions to answer as Australia,” Ponting told the podcast after the third Test. “Their batting has looked woeful.
“Certainly their top order batting has looked poor and Jos Buttler is battling away, playing as a specialist batsman and batting at No.7 and offering very little so far so they’ve got some questions to answer too.”
A lean run with the bat has seen Buttler slip down the order from No.5 to No.7, below third Test hero Ben Stokes and wicketkeeper-batsman Jonny Bairstow. The right-hander is averaging just 9.16 for the series and made scores of five and one in Leeds.
He’s far from the only Englishman struggling this series with the bat.
Both Joe Root and Joe Denly boosted their series totals in the second innings at Headingley, but are still averaging just 29.33 and 24.50 respectively.
Their troubles pale in comparison to those of opener Jason Roy though.
His transition to Test cricket has been a failure to date - he averages 42.79 in ODIs but just 16.75 in the five-day game. Roy is also yet to pass double digits in his past four innings.
“It’s just a different game,” Ponting said of Roy switching from white ball to red ball.
“We’ve seen hundreds of players through time that have been able to dominate a white ball and then as soon as the ball changes colour they’ve got no idea.
“There have been a few. Jason Roy is probably exactly the same.”
Ponting pointed out the technical deficiencies on both sides, saying some of the batsmen in the series need everything going in their favour to score big.
Smith not changing a thingSmith not changing a thing1:09
He added: “It’s almost like they have to have everything go exactly right for them just to survive in the game.”
Ponting used England opener Rory Burns as an example after he made 133 at Edgbaston despite regularly being beaten by the bowlers throughout most of the innings.
“He played and missed 45 times,” Ponting said. “I don’t care how much the wicket does. All these things that they do wrong is just enough to survive in the game.
“The class players, they can do a lot of things wrong and still make runs. You see so many mistakes made by players, and I think Jason Roy will be a little bit like that.”
Ponting said one-day cricket is more forgiving to “little mistakes”, which the likes of Josh Hazlewood, Pat Cummins and James Pattinson can better exploit in a Test match.
The five-Test series resumes on Wednesday night, when Australia and England face off in the fourth Test at Old Trafford.
https://www.foxsports.com.au/cricke...g/news-story/5a4b65c5dcbfebbbac361bb5d4b8abda
