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'Worst ever': Shane Warne heaps more criticism on Ricky Ponting

Shane Warne (pictured right) picking out a field placement to captain Ricky Ponting (pictured left).
Shane Warne (pictured right) has labelled Ricky Ponting's (pictured left) decision to bowl at Edgbaston in the 2005 Ashes as the worst decision for a captain ever. (Getty Images)

Shane Warne has ridiculed former captain Ricky Ponting’s decision to bowl first in the 2005 Ashes Test match at Edgbaston.

Warne was asked to join a panel to recall the 2005 Ashes series spotlight over the weekend on Sky Sports UK.

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He joined rivals Michael Vaughan, Kevin Pietersen, Marcus Trescothick, Steve Harmison, Rob Key and Nasser Hussain to talk about the series, which brought up some old memories.

But Warne couldn’t help but take a dig at his former teammate over the ‘worst-ever decision’ by a captain.

"Nasser [Hussain] goes down as one of those people that had one of the worst-ever decisions when he said 'we'll have a bowl, thanks' at Brisbane [in the 2002/03 Ashes], but at least at The Gabba the ball swings or does something on day one. This was a road and the ball did nothing,” Warne said.

"Punter's [Ponting’s] decision to bowl first was just the worst decision ever, by any captain. So take a back seat, Nas, Punter has got your back."

Ashes heartbreak for Aussies at Edgbaston

But moving on from the decision, the 2nd Test at Edgbaston was remembered for Australia’s tail edging closer to the 107 needed on the final day.

Warne said, despite Ian Bell’s constant sledging, the Aussie team had the belief they could pull off the victory.

But Harmison dismissed Michael Kasprowicz with two runs left and the big fast bowler said the rollercoaster of emotions throughout that series was next level.

“The emotion of that week was just frightening! We’d gone from being the best team in the world going into Lord’s, then Glenn McGrath taking the whole thing away from us, thinking ‘here we go again’. To then go to Edgbaston, McGrath standing on the ball, to potentially winning it, potentially losing, to winning again,” Harmison said.

“At the end of this Test match, there was a bit of calmness in the dressing room. Not only did we think we were back in the series, we thought we could win it. A sense of ‘the hard work starts now’; we’ve got to go to Old Trafford and work harder.”

England captain Vaughan said if Australia had have won that match it would have been difficult to come back from 2-0 down.