Former Australian Test captain Ricky Ponting has pinpointed the one factor that England will remorse within the wake of the hosts’ failure to wrest again the Ashes at Old Trafford, which by subsequent collection will mark virtually a decade with out the urn.
With the fourth Test tapering off right into a meek draw courtesy of the English climate, Ponting identified that England squandered alternatives earlier within the collection which might have meant that they relied much less on the climate gods in Manchester.
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Speaking as hopes of any play on the final day of the Fourth Test dissipated – Ponting seemed to the First Test at Edgbaston and the controversial day one declaration that left a rampaging Joe Root unbeaten on 118, with England trying to attract first blood late within the day.
“I think they will regret the fact that they declared,” Ponting stated on Sky Sports.
“I think they’ll regret how hard they went with the bat in the second innings.
“A 280-run lead having been bowled out in the second innings, I think if you had’ve asked straight after losing the toss, you’re going to be happy chasing 280. I would’ve taken that.”
Looking to the second Test at Lord’s, Ponting then recognized the inflexibility of the English of their dedication to teach Brendon McCullum’s swashbuckling ‘Bazball’ model.
“I said right from the start, if they want to play that way, that brand of cricket and they’ve talked about it so much, they sort of back themselves into a corner where they’ve got to play that way,” he stated.
“And when that tactic started, they were in complete control of the game at that point, the batting looked good, they were scoring quickly, and then the loss of those four or five wickets in a short amount of time, turned that (Lord’s) Test match on its head.
“I don’t think they identified quick enough that they didn’t need to play that way right there. With this approach I think there’s a time and a place against the very best Test teams to be able to play that way.
“I don’t think they’re going to be able to do it all the time, and I think the fact that they went as hard as they did in the second innings at Edgbaston and then probably losing those wickets to the short ball at Lord’s were the reason that they found themselves 2-0 down after the first two games.”
Former England captain Nasser Hussain, himself greatest identified in Australia for his ill-fated resolution to bowl after profitable the toss in Brisbane, stated he wouldn’t have declared.
Hussain’s vacationers have been smashed everywhere in the Gabba in 2002 by Ricky Ponting (123) and Matthew Hayden (197), who headed into the shut of play on day one on 2-364, establishing a 4-1 collection demolition.
“There’s a difference between what I would do and what a different era of captain would do,” Hussain stated.
“I would have never declared in that situation with arguably England’s greatest ever batter at the crease on 100 and smashing it for fun everywhere.”
“I’d be like … get them in your first innings, get as many as you can in your first innings, but don’t confuse me with how this team thinks.
“This team are a different era, different coach, different captain, and this captain thinks of every opportunity of winning a game.
“If that opportunity means ‘I’m going to unleash Broad at Warner at 5.30, 6 o’clock with the Hollies all up and the whole crowd up – I’m going to take that opportunity’ and it is the classic, if it doesn’t work, you look back here and go ‘was that a key moment?’
“If it does work, if Broad gets Warner, you all say ‘genius, that’s brilliant from Stokes’.”
Hussain’s equivocating was not obtained properly by Ponting, who argued that captains have to take accountability for their very own selections.
Ponting himself infamously despatched the English in after profitable the toss at Edgbaston in 2005, solely to have England end the primary day as the primary facet to hit 400 runs on day one in opposition to Australia since 1938, led by a rampant Marcus Trescothick.
“That’s the same with every decision that’s made in cricket,” he stated.
“You’re scrutinised which ever way you go. Same as us, winning the toss in Brisbane (in 2002) and Edgbaston (in 2005) – the results could have gone either way, but unfortunately the decisions we made, we live with now because the result didn’t go the way we wanted to and I think that’s the way we’ve got to look at this one now.”
England’s resolution to declare early within the first Test was criticised by followers and pundits alike, with broadcaster David Lithgow describing it as “arrogant lunacy”.
Stokes himself was requested on the BBC after the shut of play whether or not he regretted a few of his captaincy selections earlier within the collection.
“You can’t change what’s happened in the past,” Stokes stated.
“A lot of things can always be said about stuff that’s already happened, that’s just theoretical things, you can’t change the decision that you’ve made, I’ll always back decisions that I take because I know it’s the right decision to try and force a result and what I think is at the given time.
“Sometimes it doesn’t work out the way you want it to, but I’m never going to look back and question anything that we did.”
Stokes implied in his closing remarks, as he did after the loss at Edgbaston, that how England’s cricketers performed the sport was as essential as profitable the Ashes, referring to “bigger things”.
“Although we can’t get the urn back, there are bigger things for us than winning the Ashes, if that makes sense,” he stated.
Cricket has lagged in participation in England lately, bolstered by successes such because the 2019 World Cup victory on house soil (uncharacteristically broadcast on free-to-air tv), and Stokes’ facet have been stated to have used their entertaining model of results-focused play to try to reinvigorate the game this summer season.
Source: www.news.com.au
