ENG vs AUS: Australia’s former captain Ricky Ponting on Tuesday termed as “ridiculous” England batter Joe Root’s suggestion of extending till third sessions of the Fourth Test match in the ongoing Ashes till 10 pm. After the fourth test washed out resulting in a draw at the Old Trafford Cricket Ground, England failed to regain the Ashes 2023 series and Australia is leading the series by 2-1.
After the match on Monday Joe Root had asked, “Why can’t we just play until we bowl the overs?” “There’s been a lot of chat about not bowling the overs. There are so many different ways of trying to find opportunities to get as much play in as possible. At every opportunity at every stage you should be looking to find ways to get the Test on. We batted in worse conditions at Edgbaston, but that is cricket. You just want consistency in those conditions,” Root said.
Ricky Ponting addressed Joe Root’s statement on the latest episode of The ICC Review stating “You can’t just choose to change the laws whenever you want to.” “I’m sure there have been times when England have wanted to not get back out there and play themselves. I mean, that’s just a ridiculous thing to say,” Ponting said. England batter, Stuart Broad, meanwhile writing in his column in the UK-based Daily Mail that it would be “unjust if weather had a decisive say” ahead of the final day’s play.
Responding to Broad’s comment, Ricky Ponting said that he understands the English batter’s frustration but this is not the first time such an incident has happened. “I can understand Stuart’s frustration. You know, they had dominated that game. They had to dominate that game, they had to win that game to get themselves back in the series. So they’d done everything that they possibly could, but unfortunately the weather came in,” Ponting said.
“So I can understand the frustration there, but it’s not like it’s the first time it’s ever happened, especially in the UK and especially in Manchester. Looking at the numbers the other day, Manchester now I think is on an even keel with the Sydney Cricket Ground on the most full days of international cricket that have been washed out. So it’s not the first time it’s happened here, won’t be the last time.”
Ponting also agreed that the result can be pretty frustrating as a captain, but mentioned that it was something England were aware of when monitoring predicted weather forecasts prior to the match. “There’s absolutely nothing worse (as a captain). You’ve worked as hard as they have for three days, well three-and-a-half days really in that Test match and they were dominating the game,” Ponting added.
“But by the same token, they knew at the start of the game that this was going to happen. You know, they did everything they could in their power to try and force a result. Unfortunately for them, they’ve waited until the fourth Test to actually play that way and get themselves in a situation like that in a game. And for them, it was too late.”
Ponting also drew parallels with the Manchester Test in the 2013 Ashes series, with the scoreline reading 2-0 in favour of England. The visitors needed a win to prevent England from retaining the Ashes and had the game in their grasp when they set a fourth-innings target of 332 and had the hosts at 37/3 before rain washed out their hopes on day five.
“It’s not like it’s the first time it happened,” Ponting pointed out. “I reckon there was the exact reverse of this happening in 2013 when Australia were pushing for a win and the last couple of days of one of those Test matches got washed out. So it’s not the first time. When you’re playing Test matches over five days, the weather will come into it at some stage.”
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