Ricky Ponting unleashes on Ashes villain in brutal war-of-words
The Aussie legend has called out the England bowler after the unsavoury incident.
Cricket legends Ricky Ponting and Matthew Hayden have hit back at England bowler Ollie Robinson after he dragged the former Australian captain into his ugly incident with Usman Khawaja in the first Ashes test. Robinson caused uproar in the first Ashes test when he appeared to tell Khawaja to "F**k off, you f**king prick," in a spray after taking the centurion's wicket.
Fans felt the verbal tirade at Khawaja was ill-timed considering he had the highest individual score in the match and had put Australia in a good position. And not willing to back down after the day's play, Robinson then dragged Ponting into the incident and said the former players never had an issue firing up during their time in the middle.
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"We've all seen Ricky Ponting and other Aussies do the same to us, and just because the shoe is on the other foot, it's not received well," he said after play. Ponting initially shrugged off the comments in a Sky Sports interview when he said the Aussies won't forget the words.
Robinson's aggression added to the entertainment of the match, which saw Pat Cummins and Nathan Lyon produce a 55-run partnership to help Australia over the line in a thrilling final session of play. Robinson has since copped plenty of heat after his spray at Khawaja and mocking the Australian batting tail.
And now the legendary Aussie batter has responded to Robinson and claimed he should be more focused on his bowling, which came under fire during the Edgbaston test, rather than bringing him into his feud.
"As I said after Ollie Robinson said what he said, this England cricket team hasn't played against Australia and they'll find out pretty quickly what playing Ashes cricket and playing against a good Australian cricket team is all about," Ponting told the ICC Review podcast.
"And if Ollie Robinson hasn't learned that already after last week, then he's a slow learner. Some of the things he had to say – I mean he even brought my name into it, which I felt was a little bit unusual, but for me it's water off a duck's back.
"If he is sitting back thinking about me, then no wonder he bowled like the way that he did in that game, if he's worried about what I did 15 years ago. He'll learn pretty quickly that if you're going to talk to Australian cricketers in an Ashes series, then you want to be able to back it up with your skills."
Ponting wasn't the only legend to take a swipe at Robinson with his former teammate and batting great Hayden also addressing the comments. Hayden, who enjoyed much success with Ponting, wasn't having any of the Englishman's swipe at the former players.
"He is a forgettable cricketer," Hayden said on SEN Radio. "A fast bowler that is bowling 124km/h nuts and he's got a mouth from the south."
Ricky Ponting takes down Kevin Pietersen
Ponting also made headlines during the first test after his brutal shut down of former Ashes rival Kevin Pietersen. Pietersen was full of praise for batter Joe Root on day 3, which saw him hit a quick-fire 46 runs.
"What was brilliant this morning was Joe Root. He just owned the game, he just ran the game," Pietersen said on Sky Sports. "He was pure quality and he had this lot scratching their heads going 'what do we do,'" he added.
However, Ponting interjected and appeared flabbergasted with Pietersen's ongoing praise. "Well he is out now, he got 40," Ponting said with his trademark dry sense of humour. "Let's move on," Ponting said to some laughs. Ponting was widely lauded on social media from Aussie fans for the hilarious incident.
While Root managed 46, you could be mistaken thinking he scored another century the way Pietersen was praising the batter. However, Root has been England's best batter in the first test at Edgbaston with a superb unbeaten 118 runs off 152 balls in the first innings.
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