Ashes Series: Ricky Ponting advises Australia to work as a unit
Australian Captain Ricky Ponting has said that Australia has to buck-up and work as a group, for the rest of the Ashes series. The first Ashes test was an eventful one and was filled with some impressive performances from both the sides. Players from both the sides delivered some historic and record breaking performances in the Test match. For Australia, the first innings bowling was the main feature for their bowlers, as they were successful in dismissing the English side for 260 runs. The second innings was a total opposite for their bowlers, as they were able to dismiss only one English batsman and were unable keep the batsmen under pressure. In the first innings, Peter Siddle was the main performer for the Australian side, as he picked his first hat-trick in Test cricket and also managed to get match figures of 6-54. Hilfenhaus also troubled the English batsmen in different phases and kept the batsmen quiet, most of the times. But overall, the killer-punch was missing from their bowling, as they were unable to dismiss the English batsmen when it really mattered.
It is most likely to be the last Ashes series for Ponting and he would definitely like to end it on a high note. There were certain suggestions before the Ashes series that Australia will face tough times in the prestigious clash, but the way they played in the first three days, really showed their desire to win. The last two days of the Test match, placed the Aussies on the back-foot, as they were powerless to stop the English batsmen from scoring freely. Ricky Ponting expressed his thoughts and stated that he is not pointing any particular bowler for a bad performance, as all of the Australian bowlers were not at their best in the Test match.
Ricky Ponting further articulated that bowling is all about working in groups, and according to him ,Australian bowlers were not able to work on this factor that much. It was noticed during the second innings, of the first Test, that Australian bowlers did not complement each other that well and if one bowler was bowling well, the other was going for runs. Naturally this takes the pressure away from the batsmen, as they are much relaxed in playing the other bowler. Mitchell Johnson was one of the most disappointing bowlers, as he was not only expensive in his spells but he was also wicket-less in the clash. Ricky Ponting was of the view that http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746 has a lot of work to do and must work, as a group, in the Ashes series. If Australia is interested in showing better performance for the rest of the series, they would have to work as a unit and exploit any weakness of the opposition, which comes their way.
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