Former Australia captain and commentator Ricky Ponting criticized England’s decision to pick Chris Woakes over Mark Wood for the ongoing second Test of the Ashes series (2021–22) at the Adelaide Oval.
Ponting said that Wood has more variations that would have come in handy with the pink ball for England in the ongoing day-night Ashes Test against Australia in Adelaide. He also said that Woakes’ inclusion over Wood has had a poor impact on the influence of England all-rounder Ben Stokes.
Woakes claimed one wicket for 103 runs in 23.4 first innings overs as Australia took command of the second Test Test, declaring at 473/9, to take a big step towards taking a 2-0 lead in the ongoing Ashes series, having already won the first Test in Brisbane.
Ponting told cricket.com.au: “It looked to me as if Stokes was given one job, to run in and bowl bouncers ball after ball. When he finally got the chance to bowl at a new batsman and pitch the ball, he got a wicket second ball to (Cameron) Green.”
The Aussie added, “Woakes was ineffective again – I’m not sure why they bothered picking him in Adelaide when they’ve got Wood there. To me Wood would have given them a lot more variation in their attack and then Stokes could have pitched it up and bowled like a normal seamer, which he’s good at, and Wood could have taken the role Stokes had.”
Criticizing the limited approach taken by England captain Joe Root and his bowling attack against Australia in the ongoing pink-ball Test in Adelaide, Ponting said: “Apart from the short-ball plan Stokes executed (on the first day), England didn’t seem to have much of a plan after that.”
He signed off by saying, “It was run in and bowl back-of-a-length and wait for the Aussies to make mistakes. Well, when you’re bowling to two of the top three batsmen in the world, they’re not going to make mistakes. You’ve got to find a way to get them out and change things up.”
(With Reuters Inputs)
