The 2023 edition of Ashes produced a riveting contest between bat and ball. The hard-fought five-match series ended at 2-2 and managed to draw the attention of cricket fans across the globe.
However, former Australia and England captains – Ricky Ponting and Nasser Hussain – feel “it doesn’t solve all the problems” as they urged England, Australia and India to do more for Test cricket.
“The top three… two of the top three England, India and Australia, they have been successful. They will continue to be successful. So those three are trying to push you on but they have also got to keep an eye on the rest. It is not just about the top three,” Hussain told Sky Sports.
“It’s all well and good me saying on commentary ‘My big moment in Headingley. The Ashes is alive. Test cricket is alive. Have a look at other parts of the world, it’s not so alive.’
“Yes we are proud of what we have achieving and Australia and India have achieved but it will be dull if we just India, Australia and England month in and month out, year in and year out,” he added.
Ponting echoed Hussain’s words and said every board should take responsibility to make Test cricket exciting.
“I think the bottomline is every board every association every team to aspire, to achieve the level of cricket that has been played here. Last thing you wanna see is boring drawn out games of Test match cricket and I think if this can prove anything to the rest of the world as far as Test cricket is concern, you can play four one-day games in a row and still win Test matches,” the Australian legend stated.
“I think every team, every captain, every coach can learn something from this, take that approach and pick the appropriate players to make the Test cricket more exciting,” he remarked.
England registered a 49-run victory over Australia in the fifth and final Test at The Oval to level the Ashes 2-2 on Monday (July 31).
Chasing 384 to win, the visitors got off to a brilliant start as the duo of David Warner and Usman Khawaja added 140 runs for the opening wicket.
However, game-changing spells by Chris Woakes (4-50) and Moeen Ali (3-76) on the final day denied Australia their first Ashes win away from home since 2001.
Speaking at the post-match presentation ceremony, England skipper Ben Stokes said: “Feel really good. 2-2 is a fair reflection at the end of the series. Australia, WTC champions, absolute quality team. Don't think many teams would've been able to respond like we did after being 2-0 down. Very proud of the entire team and the effort they put in.”
