Ashes 2019: Ricky Ponting backs David Warner to retain opening spot for Oval Test

Warner has scored three consecutive ducks.

Stuart Broad (R) has made David Warner (L) his bunny | Getty Images

Australian opener David Warner is having a horrid time in ongoing Ashes 2019 facing Stuart Broad. According to Ricky Ponting, even after three consecutive ducks, Warner’s place in the side should remain intact.

Ricky Ponting told cricket.com.au, “Davey (David Warner) has obviously struggled but he’s a quality player and if you looked at that, even if they were to leave him out of that game, he’s going to start back in Australia anyway because his record in Australia is so good.

I can’t see them making any changes. They backed (Marcus) Harris in a couple of games for certain reasons so keep the group together and hopefully have some slight improvement in most of those players in the Oval Test,” he added.

Australia beat England in the 2017/18 series in Australia to win back the Ashes. In 2019, they have already attained an unassailable lead in the series and retained the urn.

However, the former Australian captain believes that retaining the Ashes and winning them are two different things. Hence, they must now make sure that the home side does not have a chance to get back and level the series.

I think it's one thing to retain them, but it’s a different thing to win them and I think that should be the focus now. They need to focus on winning and not let England back into the series,” he said.

Ben Stokes played a miraculous inning at Leeds in the third Test to level the series 1-1. There were talks of the English side having the momentum coming into the fourth Test and how difficult it will be for the visitors to break the momentum.

Well, none of it turned out to be true. Ponting believes that there is no such thing as momentum in cricket and it depends on how the players turn up on that day and perform.

He said, “One thing that’s been proved for everybody and one thing I’ve always believed is there’s no such thing as momentum in cricket. English players and fans, I’m sure, were coming away from Leeds talking about how they had all the momentum and how that was going to be a turning point in the series. I think that just goes to show you that’s a load of rubbish. It’s all about how you turn up and front up under pressure and Australia have handled the pressure better in this game than England have.

The fifth and final Ashes Test of 2019 will be played at the Kennington Oval in London from 12 September.

(Source: cricket.com.au)

 
 

By Sameer Deodhar - 09 Sep, 2019

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