Don’t think I’ve seen a worse performing England team in Australia: Ponting

Former Australian skipper Ricky Ponting has slammed Joe Root-led England for their dismal performance in the first three Ashes Tests.

Pacer Scott Boland took six wickets in the second innings as Australia defeated England by an innings and 14 runs in the third Ashes Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Tuesday.

With this win, Australia regained the Ashes as the hosts gained an unassailable 3-0 lead in the five-match series. “I don’t think I’ve seen a worse-performing team in Australia than what I’ve seen over the last three games. England might need to have a look at how they can make their conditions more suitable to ours. They play well in England still but they don’t play well when they come here – so maybe they play more with the Kookaburra ball,” cricket.com.au quoted Ponting.

“Maybe they flatten the wickets out a little bit so there’s not as much swing and seam, so the batters are making bigger scores and batting for longer periods of time. It might be the exact same blip that (Australia) had to have three or four years ago,” he added.

England was bowled out for 68 in the second innings of the Melbourne Test and the side stumbled to an innings defeat. The Three Lions’ batters have not been able to show a spirited performance, and it has been just Root and Dawid Malan who have shown some fight with the bat.

“Some of the English top-order batters that I’ve seen in the last couple of tours, without giving names, there are some techniques there that I just know are not going to stand up at Test level. In challenging conditions and world-class bowlers up against sub-standard techniques, then you get what happened at the MCG,” said Ponting.

“The little swing dibbly-dobblers that are getting them out over there (in county cricket), they’re not facing that at Test level. They’re facing guys who can actually bowl. What I’ve seen with their batting, they’re just simply not good enough,” he added.