England batsmen vulnerable says Ricky Ponting
Ricky Ponting ahead of the Ashes series this winter has castigated the English batting line up, saying it is vulnerable and has collapsed a number of times against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 this summers, which might provide the Australian side with a few pointers as to how they will deal with the English men in the upcoming clash. Captain Andrew Strauss, Kevin Pietersen and Paul Collingwood all of them have been averaging fewer than 30 against a relatively vulnerable and new Pakistan side.
Ponting pointed out that England has a few vulnerable players, even though admittedly he spoke about his own inconsistency last year. However, keeping in mind the caliber of the English players, with talent like Pietersen, Strauss and Collingwood not being able to find their form this series, Ponting feels that it will not be a hard task to exploit the cracks and fissures that have bothered the English side during the Test series against Pakistan.
England currently lead the four match series against Pakistan 2-1 with the final clash underway at Lord’s. Their batting has been the weak link in the English side, with the middle order collapsing on several occasions. They lost their top six batsmen for 98 in the second innings of the second Test at Trent Bridge, while their top seven wickets fell for 94 in the first innings of the third Test match at the Oval.
These collapses have been under scrutiny of the Australian captain who picked holes in the England batting as something that could eventually affect their game play in http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746. "Alastair Cook saved his career with a second innings hundred [at The Oval] while Pietersen hasn’t made a Test hundred in nearly 12 months which is pretty remarkable when you consider the quality of player he is.” Ponting said. "Strauss has not made many runs in the last few games either while [Jonathan] Trott is reasonably new. They'll have a question mark at six as to whether they'll play [Eoin] Morgan or [Ian] Bell."
Ponting recognized, that the playing conditions in Australia are considerably different from those in England, and the English bowling attack will also suffer against Australia since the pitches are not well suited for bowlers who rely on the ball swinging. The 35-year-old hardly seems vexed by the English bowling attack.
The Australian team, it would be interesting to add are not at the top of their game with Pakistan defeating them in the last test at Headingly; which would be something worrying the Kangaroos when they go against England for the Ashes. However, Ponting’s remarks hold true, in the face of poor batting form of the English veteran batsmen. This criticism ahead of the series is never well received by the English fans who feel that this is the ‘punters’ attempt to un-nerve the English batsmen ahead of their tour to Australia.
England have had a bitter history of playing Ashes with Australia dating back to as early as 1900, when after England’s defeat on home soil at Oval for the first time, it was said,” English cricket has died, and the body will be cremated and the ashes taken to Australia.”
After England’s 2-1 win in the Ashes last year, Australia would be seeking to regain the title this year. "[James] Anderson and [Stuart] Broad are the two better bowlers, along with [Graeme] Swann. Anderson, when it swings, is as good as anyone.” Ponting remarked. "But there shouldn't be too many surprises because we've played against them enough."
The five matches Ashes series gets underway in Brisbane on 25 November. As it was in 2006-07, the second and third Tests will be hosted in Adelaide and Perth with the traditional Boxing Day Test in Melbourne followed by the New Year finale in Sydney. The fans will eagerly be awaiting a competitive series in this clash of the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Titans-c856.
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