Ricky Ponting rips Joe Root over 'staggering' post-match admission
Aussie legend Ricky Ponting has slammed Joe Root after the England captain publicly criticised his bowlers following Australia's victory in the second Ashes Test.
Root was scathing of his side's performance at the Adelaide Oval after Australia won by 275 runs to take a 2-0 lead in the series.
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“I don’t think we bowled the right lengths,” he said in a post-match interview.
“If we’re being brutally honest, we needed to bowl fuller.
“As soon as we did in that second innings, we created chances. We need to do that more, we need to be a bit braver, get the ball up there a bit further because when we do, we’re going to create chances and make life difficult.
“That’s one of the frustrating things because it’s something we did four years ago and got it wrong and we didn’t learn from it.
"We made the same mistakes last week (in Brisbane) – we just have to be better and we’ve got to learn those lessons very quickly.”
In response to Root's comments, Ponting said he "nearly fell off his seat" when he heard them.
Speaking to cricket.com.au, the former Aussie captain said Root should have stepped in if he felt his bowlers weren't following the right plans.
“Whose job is it then to make them change? Why are you captain then?" he said.
“If you can’t influence your bowlers on what length to bowl, what are you doing on the field?
“Joe Root can come back and say whatever he likes but if you’re captain, you’ve got to be able to sense when your bowlers aren’t bowling where you want them to.
“And if they’re not going to listen, you take them off, simple as that. Give someone else a chance that is going to do it for you. Or you have a really strong conversation with them on the field to tell them what you need."
Joe Root not giving up despite 2-0 Ashes deficit
English cricket writer Lawrence Booth was also gobsmacked.
“Root admitting England should have bowled fuller in the first innings. Good of him to say so, but staggering that they made the same mistake as they did four years ago,” he tweeted.
Root is refusing to give up on England's Ashes campaign despite history being firmly against the tourists.
Only one team has ever come from 2-0 down to win an Ashes series - Don Bradman's Australians in 1936-37.
"I don't think that Australia are that much better than us in these conditions as the scorelines might suggest," Root said.
"Four years ago we got it wrong and we didn't learn from it.
"We have got to learn those lessons very quickly over the next week.
"I am convinced that we have got what we need to win over here, it's just we need to be better.
"We can't keep making the same mistakes."
with AAP
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