Ricky Ponting questions England's Ashes tactics after 'risky' reveal
The legendary Aussie cricketer isn't so sure England are prepared for what's coming.
Aussie cricket legend Ricky Ponting has questioned whether England want a flat and faster wicket before images of a 'batters paradise' emerged at Edgbaston ahead of the first Ashes Test. England coach Ben Stokes appeared to get his wish with curators providing a flatter wicket, with less green, for the Birmingham opener against Australia.
England have been confident their 'Bazball' approach will rattle the Aussies, despite the likes of Josh Hazlewood, Steve Smith and former captain Steve Waugh all questioning the tactic against a world class bowling line-up.
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The reveal of the Edgbaston wicket on Wednesday confirmed a 'batting paradise' and fans questioned how England were going to get the in-form Steve Smith and World No.1 batter Marnus Labuscghagne out on what appears to be an ideal wicket for the Aussies.
And legendary cricketer Ponting has also reiterated this view in questioning whether the English have overplayed their hand.
"If England want to play the style that they've been playing, I actually think they probably need to have some flattish-type wickets. I've heard that they want flat wickets, I've heard they want the boundaries brought in," Ponting told The Times.
"But I think if they do have these flatter wickets, I'd be worried about how they're going to get 20 Australian wickets a game. The records of some of our top-order batters are not as good here in the UK, but the bowling numbers are all pretty good.
"I think England are going to bat really well. I think they're going to struggle with the ball, and I think if you look at Australia's attack, Australia's bowling probably right now has fewer holes in it than what the batting has."
This echoed Ponting's sentiment from last week when he imagined the English bowlers would want greener wickets. “If (England) have the flatter wickets with the smaller boundaries, it might just backfire on the bowling group,” Ponting said.
“(Stuart) Broad, (James) Anderson and (Ollie) Robinson are going to want pitches that offer them something. If they don’t, let’s see how they go against the Aussie batters.”
This comes as Smith and Travis Head found form in the Test Championship final against India with both middle order batters scoring centuries. On Wednesday and Thursday the pitch reveal showed a pitch could well favour the batters in Edgbaston.
England keen to take on Aussie bowlers in the Ashes
Many fans were left questioning whether this would favour the Aussie batters that would rely on a consistent bounce. Regardless, English batter Harry Brook wasn't concerned whatsoever about the pitch and was keen to take on the No.1 bowling attack in world cricket.
And when asked how he would deal with spinner Nathan Lyon, Brooks was defiant. "How do you thing," he responded to the challenge.
"If he bowls a good ball then I'm going to respect it but other than that, I'm going to try to take him on," he added. He could take a lot of wickets but hopefully we're going to hit him for a lot of runs.
"I like to think I'm a player who can find gaps and hit different gaps really, and play all around the wicket. I'll see what field he has. I'm sure they'll start with everybody up and we'll go from there."
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