‘Not Going to Question Pat at All’: Ricky Ponting Backs Australian Skipper Ahead of 4th Ashes Test – News18

Australia have a slender lead in the ongoing Ashes Test series against traditional rivals England after the home team cut down the arrears with a 2-wicket win over the touring Aussies at the Headingley in the 3rd Test of the campaign.

Australia established a 2-0 lead with their wins at Edgbaston and at the Lord’s in the opening two fixtures of the five-match Test series and looked to seal the tour with a win at Headingley, but the English stake their claim to remain alive in the series.

Australian captain Pat Cummins came under scrutiny for using spinner Todd Murphy only sparingly in the loss at Headingley and backed his decision stating that the surface at Leeds did not demonstrate spinner-friendly conditions.

Former Australian skipper and World Cup winner Ricky Ponting has backed his compatriot following the loss at Leeds.

“I think this has been one of the most tactical series that I could remember, because of the two different styles of play, probably two contrasting styles of leadership as well,” the 48-year-old said elucidating on the seemingly opposing styles of the teams and the approach they have opted for during the series.

Ponting also pointed out the starkly different attitudes of Cummins and English skipper Ben Stokes in terms of captaincy.

“Pat Cummins is more of an old-fashioned sort of Test match captain where he sort of lets sets fields and lets plans sort of unravel and is happy to do it over a long period of time, whereas Stokes is a bit the other way. He’s sort of trying to make something happen every ball and therefore sometimes plans never really have a chance to eventuate,” Ponting laid out the differences between the skippers leading their units in the ongoing edition of the Ashes.

“The only surprise that I had from the second innings of that game was that Cummins probably didn’t use Murphy a little bit earlier, which would have given him a chance to get into the game,”

Ponting explained that the longer Murphy remained out of the spell, the harder it got for the Aussies to bring him into the thick of the action.

“And the longer he was held back, the harder it was going to be to introduce him into the game. So that would be the only question I would have had,” he opined.

However, Ponting backed the Australian captain’s decision to hold out on using the spinner more often in the third Test.

“But as I said, they had their rights and reasoning behind not bringing him into the game. Yes, there was some grass on that wicket at Headingley, but it was also really dry underneath. But come day four, it still wasn’t turning,” he explained.

The fourth Test of the series begin on the 19th of July at Manchester and Ponting insisted that Murphy retain his place in the eleven for the upcoming game.

“I’ve got no doubt that he stays in the side. And I think when they get the chance, when Pat gets the chance, he might look at getting him into the game a little bit earlier next time,” he asserted.

Ponting also threw his weight behind Cummins to take Australian Test cricket forward and said that all comments and criticism pertaining to the skipper shou.d be reserved until the final result of the five-match series is set in stone.

“Look, Pat is still fairly young in the job. Let’s not forget that he’s only been doing it for a couple of years now and I’m sure he’s learning along the way,” Ponting said.

“I’m not going to question Pat at all. The fact that Australia are 2-1 up says he’s done a good job to me. There’ll always be little things in a game. When you lose, there are always little things in a game that people are happy to talk about,” he said.

“But at the end of the day, I think the tactics are better off waiting to see what the result is at the end of the series and then we’ll be able to critique both captains on the result,” the World Cup winner concluded.