Ricky Ponting suggests Ben Stokes’ call for ‘fast, flat pitches’ could backfire on England captain
Ricky Ponting suggests Ben Stokes’ call for ‘quick, flat throws’ could backfire with the England captain chasing Ashes… as Australia build a commanding lead over India in the World Test Championship final
- Ponting praised England’s refreshing mentality playing ‘Bazball’
- But the former captain suggested they do better with vibrant surfaces
- Australia has their sights set on the World Test Championship after day three
Ricky Ponting believes Ben Stokes’ plea for ‘fast, flat’ pitches could rebound on England as they seek to win the Ashes for the first time since 2015.
As Australia retained control of the World Test Championship final against India, their former captain suggested the England sailors could be thankful for vibrant surfaces instead.
Ponting, who played the last of his 168 Tests in 2012–13 and scored 13,378 Test runs – second only to Sachin Tendulkar – said Bazball had been refreshing and praised England’s win-at-all-cost mentality.
But he added: ‘I’m really intrigued to see what terms England want for that style of cricket. If they have the flatter wickets with the smaller boundaries, it could backfire on the bowling group.
Broad, Anderson and Robinson want pitches that offer them something. If they don’t, let’s see how they stack up against the Aussie batters.”
Ricky Ponting has suggested Ben Stokes’ call for fast, flat throws could backfire
David Warner’s woes in England continued as he scored just one point against India on Friday
In the middle, those Aussies batters were held together in their second innings by Marnus Labuschagne, who hit 41 on the third day of the WTC final. Australia was 123 for four, an overall lead of 296.
But England will not have been disappointed to see another failure for opener Usman Khawaja, who followed his first innings duck with a loose drive off Umesh Yadav to fall behind by 13.
That came after David Warner fell for a single and went behind when he chased Mohammed Siraj a bit further. Perhaps the biggest surprise came when Steve Smith pulled off a terrible slog off left arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja to cover 34.
And when Travis Head – like Smith, a centurion in the first innings – gave Jadeja a return catch on 18, two balls after Yadav dropped him over the midwicket rope for six, Australia were 111 for four.
A lead of 173 in the first innings meant their carelessness hardly mattered, although they had also been clumsy in the field. After Scott Boland bowled Srikar Bharat on the second delivery of the morning, Australia put up two slip catches and was withheld a wicket for the second day in a row by a no-ball from Pat Cummins – Shardul Thakur, who had got lbw on 36.
But Cameron Green held a breathtaking catch in the gully to get rid of Ajinkya Rahane for 89, and Green helped mop up the tail. India will need something special to win it from here.
Three catches were disallowed as Pat Cummins crossed the crease