Australian Captain Ricky Ponting Feels England’s Top-Order Batsmen Are Fragile; The Side ‘Vulnerable’
England’s recent performance against Pakistan (in http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Queensland-c834. The vulnerability in England’s batting line-up, especially the top-order, must be a source of concern for the management at Wales. With Australia’s lofty ambitions and the utmost desire to seek revenge at its peak, such fragile and mercurial batting line-up may see Ricky Ponting’s dream of Ashes glory come true.
Ricky Ponting has already threatened to whitewash the English team by 5-0 in the upcoming Ashes series. The advantage of home-ground and home crowd, along with their past record against England, definitely gives the team Down Under an edge. The Australian team is planning to have a series in http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746 whitewashed England in the Ashes.
With Ricky Ponting holding the reigns, his teammates are also backing him in the psychological war against England. Bowler Shane Watson raised objections on the capability of English fast bowler Steven Finn to ‘withstand’ an international event like the Ashes. Shane http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Watson-c96326 considered the new bowler’s experience to be too low to sustain the pressure of the Ashes competition.
Andrew Strauss needs to wake up after his batting line collapsed in the recent npower series against Pakistan. While Pakistan being a psychologically weak side, with their internal management problems and the pathetic performance in the Test series, the failure of the English team raises several questions. The reliability and consistency factor has never been an English problem, but it appeared to be a big problem for the English batting line-up against Pakistan. Pakistan, itself an unreliable side, though, failed to take full advantage of the seemingly frail English batting line-up; however, the Australians won’t spare Andrew Strauss’ team with such an exhibition of performance. Kevin Pietersen, Andrew Strauss and Paul Collingwood, considered the main pillars of the English team, failed even to score more than an average of 30 runs. The Australians would definitely humiliate the English team if they display such a performance at Australia. Andy Flower must review his strategy and is required to act proactively prior to the Ashes.
Ricky Ponting thinks that England may observe some changes in the middle order against Australia. His prediction is based on the pathetic batting performance by Andrew Strauss, Kevin Pietersen and Paul Collingwood. Ricky Ponting seems to be closely observing the new faces England may introduce at the Ashes, and is apprehensive of Irish left-handed batsman Eoin Morgan. Morgan has to his credit one century in a total of five Test matches. Ricky Ponting expects Morgan to be in the Ashes series. Ricky Ponting appears, however, unworried about the bowling advices which the Australian David Saker (England’s bowling coach) is offering the English team. He believes that the real difference would be determined on the field. According to Ricky Ponting, the real-time performance in the ground matters much more than any other factor.
Ricky Ponting’s tirade against the English team depicts his apprehensions ahead of the Ashes; despite the recent dip in form, this year has truly been England’s, ever since their win in the 2010 ICC World T20. Ricky Ponting must focus on the preparation of his own team rather than launching a media war against what is quite obviously a strong side.
For even though their recent performances have been mercurial, if he doubts England’s batting line-up, he need only to review England’s first-innings total (446) against Pakistan in the 4th and final Test between the two sides; sometimes, an unlikely partnership (in this case, the 8th wicket partnership between Jonathan Trott and Stuart Broad) can become a lethal force.
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