Former Australia skipper Ricky Ponting feels Ben Stokes hasn’t seemed just like the “physically aggressive” presence that opposition groups have feared on account of his “ultra-defensive approach” within the ongoing Ashes collection.
Ponting additionally slammed England skipper Joe Root, Stokes and Jos Buttler for the style of their dismissals within the first innings of the Boxing Day Test which the two-time World Cup successful captain believes was “inexcusable”. England are 0-2 down within the marquee showdown between the standard rivals.
“He’s looked ultra-defensive. He hasn’t looked like the big, physically aggressive presence at the crease that opposition teams have feared to bowl to in other series,” Ponting instructed ‘cricket.com.au’.
“You can understand why – the batting conditions haven’t been easy in any game and he’s coming up against some good bowlers,” he added.
Ponting reckons Stokes should deviate from the conservative strategy to assist the struggling vacationers.
“But I feel when you simply sit again and wait, and don’t put stress on nice bowlers, they’re going to get you out. We at all times used to say in groups that I performed in that the higher the bowler, the extra dangers you needed to take as a batter, since you merely don’t get unhealthy balls.
“You have got to find a way to jump on anything that’s a little bit bad, rotate the strike as much as you can.” Heading into the third Test, England shuffled their prime order, bringing in Zac Crawley and Jonny Bairstow rather than Ollie Pope and Rory Burns. But after being put in to bat on day one within the Boxing Day Test the vacationers had been bowled out for simply 185.
Ponting feels the insipid efficiency by fellow England batters has put extra stress on Stokes.
“He’s probably going into the game knowing that it’s so important that he scores runs in that number five slot that he might be trying a little bit too hard,” stated Ponting.
“The backside line with it’s that technically he is likely to be their second-best participant, so you may’t hold pushing him down the listing if you’re batting guys with inferior strategies forward of him.
“And if you look at everyone outside of Joe Root then I would say that technically he is their second best player.” Ponting was sharp in his criticism of Stokes, Root and Buttler, including that the senior gamers must rise to the event.
“(It was) inexcusable for 3 of your extra senior gamers, the gamers that they wanted to face up on the again of what we imagine had been some fairly stern discussions after the Adelaide recreation.
“If your leaders aren’t going to do it, then you may’t count on the youthful guys to get the job completed.
“The young guys are going to learn from the senior players and when the senior players are setting examples like that, you can understand why some of the younger guys are making mistakes as well,” he identified.
