Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting termed James Anderson as the most disappointing bowler in the ongoing Ashes 2023 and urged England to drop him from the upcoming third Test at Headingley.
He strongly advised the England team to continue with young Josh Tongue in the playing XI, in case they opt for a spinner in the mix for Headingley Test. Australia leads the five-Test series 2-0 and a win in Leeds will give them their first away Ashes series win since 2001.
Tongue took five wickets in the second Test after replacing Moeen Ali, dismissing both Australia openers David Warner and Usman Khawaja in the first innings, as well as Steve Smith twice.
"From what I saw last week, I thought he was the standard of their fast bowlers. (Stuart) Broad got the wickets in the second innings, but Tongue got early breakthroughs,” Ponting said on the ICC Review.
While Ponting admits that questions about Moeen's fitness and Rehan Ahmed's readiness to face the rigors of Ashes cricket remain, he believes that if a spinner is brought in, Anderson should be the one to make way.
"He (Anderson) looked like the most disappointing bowler for England so far. What you expect from James Anderson is when he's got that new ball in his hand, he's taking early wickets, he's moving the ball, and he's not going for any runs. We haven't seen that in the series so far.
And that's not a direct criticism of James Anderson. He's been one of the all-time greats of the game, with his longevity and his wicket-taking ability, but if I was looking at the bowlers I saw last week, I think he's the one that's looked to have the least amount of penetration,” Ponting added.
"They've still got a few questions there with Moeen. Do they risk going into the game again and having the same (injury) happen?
I doubt that he would have bowled enough between the end of Edgbaston and the start of Headingley for them to be 100 percent convinced that he's going to be physically right to bowl a lot of overs in a Test match. It could get down to the stage where they're bowling last at Headingley and they might need someone like him to bowl 25 or 30 overs in an innings,” Ponting wondered.
England also has the option of bringing in express-pace Mark Wood or all-rounder Chris Woakes into the XI if they think of making any changes.
(ICC inputs)
