Ricky Ponting: I’m as Aussie as anyone and I love watching Bazball

We are sitting in Sky’s makeshift TV studio high up in the JM Finn Stand at the Oval, just into the second afternoon of the final Test match. The windows are draped with curtains and a wall-sized screen showing the action is situated behind where Ricky Ponting is seated. So I can see the action but he can’t. The commentary is dialled down so low you can barely hear it.

We’re well into the interview when we hear the crowd react and I see Zak Crawley hole out on the leg side. “That’s a wicket,” I say. “Crawley.” A technician sitting in the corner adds, “Crawley … 64.” Ponting turns slightly towards him and says: “Was that a short ball? That’s exactly what I said at lunch, they haven’t bowled them enough.”

It was a short ball, obviously. Ponting, winner of multiple Ashes series and World Cups, is one of the sharpest commentators on the game, so much so that he seemingly does not even need to see what has happened to know what has happened.

If Crawley, left, and Duckett bat well at the top of the order, it will give England a “good chance”, Ponting says GLYN KIRK/AFP

Crawley’s dismissal ends a daring raid by England’s openers that brought 92 in 78 balls in helpful bowling conditions. Does Ponting think Crawley and Ben Duckett can do the same thing against Australia this winter?

“Well, they did it here [in the 2023 Ashes], didn’t they?” he says. “I think they can, and they will definitely try. It’s the way they naturally play and it’s the way the coaches and captain want them to play. It’s the way they need to play — it just sets up everything for England, putting immediate pressure back on the bowlers. You [the fielding side] have to adapt really quickly, and that’s where India have let themselves down a bit. They haven’t been quick enough to adjust.

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“They probably hold the key in Australia. If they can bat really well at the top, and set things up, that will give them a good chance in the series.”

Ponting once formed part of one of the greatest top three in Test cricket history: Justin Langer and Matthew Hayden opening, followed by Ponting at first drop. Australia have nothing like that today. Since the 2023 series, the most recent Ashes, eight specialists have been tried in these positions, and that includes Usman Khawaja being an ever-present, without convincing many he should keep his place, and Marnus Labuschagne playing every game until he was dropped ahead of the recent series in the Caribbean. Ponting does not rule out further turbulence.

Ponting at Old Trafford in 2005 ALESSANDRO ABBONIZIO/GETTY IMAGES

Openers Hayden, left, and Langer, right, formed a formidable top three with Ponting DAVID GRAY/REUTERS

“There’s probably more uncertainty about the Australian line-up,” he says. “They’ve been talking at home about how important the first few rounds of Sheffield Shield cricket are going to be for those top-order batters. The bowling group will look after itself.

“The ones they [the selectors] will be talking about are Khawaja and [Sam] Konstas. It seemed they were trying to look after Konstas [who is 19 years old] by not playing him in Sri Lanka on wickets that were spinning a lot, and then threw him into the West Indies, probably thinking that was a softer kill. It ended up being the other way with wickets that were difficult to bat on, and a reasonable West Indies fast bowling attack.

“Marnus will be in the mix and they might go back to him as an opener if it doesn’t work out for Konstas, or even Khawaja, in the early rounds of Shield cricket. Cameron Green is back in the side at three and is bowling again, although I’m not sure how much they’ll want him to do. With [fellow all-rounder] Beau Webster in the side, they don’t really need him as much as they used to. Australia are going to have a lot of options with the ball.”

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Nothing escapes Ponting’s attention as an epic Oval Test unfolds, but after five months on the road he is desperate to get back to Australia. A planned ten-day break at home between working for Punjab Kings at the IPL and joining Washington Freedom at Major League Cricket was scuppered by the conflict between India and Pakistan that forced a delay to the IPL. He had to go to Canada to get a visa for the United States. Commentating on the fourth and fifth Tests here formed a stopover en route home.

Life for top-order batsmen has been tough in recent years in Australia, with re-crafted Kookaburra balls doing plenty and pitches hard to bat on. Melbourne, for instance, was given a string of poor ratings by the ICC for its lifeless pitches and has now gone the other way by sporting more grass. The type of pitches used will be fundamental to how the Ashes plays out.

“I don’t really know which way England want it,” Ponting mused. “They probably play their best cricket when they’ve got flatter pitches, because that’s what they need for their batting, but in Australia they probably need something in the wickets to help their bowling.

Much of the debate around Australia’s batting line-up for the Ashes will revolve around the 19-year-old Konstas MORGAN HANCOCK/GETTY

“It’ll be interesting to see which way we prepare our tracks. I don’t think the Aussies will be saying anything to the groundsmen. Certainly through my time I didn’t speak to the groundsman, and even my coaches didn’t speak to him. They always expected them to prepare the best wicket they could.”

Ponting expects England to start with Jofra Archer and Mark Wood if they can, not least because it will put less strain on Ben Stokes’s bowling. He also thinks Shoaib Bashir must play. “England are praying they’ll have Archer and Wood fit. If they are, they’ll have a crack with both of them in Perth and Brisbane, and then try to mix and match them for the rest of the series.

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“Archer adds so much to their line-up, that bit of extra pace that lifts everyone’s energy. And he’s done well against Australia in the past, and so has Wood. If they get both of them right the attack looks pretty strong. Gus Atkinson’s looked good and he’ll bowl OK in Australia.

Bashir is the England spinner who is most like Australia’s Lyon, according to Ponting, and therefore must play in the Ashes STUART LEGGETT/ALAMY

“[Stokes’s role as bowler] depends on what else they’ve got. Things have been laid pretty bare when he is not bowling, and without a quality spinner, as we saw at Old Trafford [when Liam Dawson played instead of the injured Bashir]. They could be exposed if Stokes is not bowling like he’s bowled here at 85 to 86mph for eight-over spells.

“If they play a spinner, Bashir’s the one that has to play. He just offers more. Perth and Brisbane will bounce for him. He’s the most similar to Nathan Lyon and he’ll have Mitchell Starc’s footmarks to bowl at. You need overspin and you’re in the game.

“If they have Archer and Wood, you’ll want a spinner because the Aussies will target the spinner with those guys there, and the spinner can potentially pick up wickets. Regardless of the conditions, I’d be playing Bashir.”

Ponting ranks Root, left, alongside Tendulkar and Dravid as the best technicians he has seen bat GARETH COPLEY/GETTY

Ponting sees Joe Root’s lack of a Test century from three tours to Australia as an anomaly rather than sign of a fundamental weakness. Indeed, he views Root — who last month displaced Ponting as the second-highest Test runscorer behind Sachin Tendulkar — as one of the best technicians he has seen.

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“He’s got out a lot in Australia with that trademark back-foot punch he plays so well here [in England] with slightly less bounce. The Aussies have tried to push him back in the crease and get him to force something square of the wicket on the off side that’s potentially not there. But he’s got eighties and nineties, so it’s not like he can’t play there. He’s got such a well-rounded game.

“What he’s done the past five years is extraordinary. Look at the numbers: he’s got 13,500 runs. I rank players on how long they can stay at the top of their powers. You can be a great player for 30 to 40 games but can you do it for 150 games? Joe probably wasn’t a great player for his first 100 games — he had 17 hundreds in 97 Tests — but he’s turned into a great player. He has got 21 hundreds in his past 60 games.

“Steve Smith found ways to minimise risks and that’s what Joe has done. The best players are the best problem-solvers. They can do it before a series, they can do it halfway through an innings. They work out how to combat ways that certain players are going to try to get them out.”

Ponting cited Root’s figures accurately without looking them up. Two days after we spoke, Root added a 39th Test century in his second innings at the Oval.

Ponting, who played 168 Tests for Australia between 1995 and 2012, scoring 41 centuries and finishing on the winning side a record 108 times, rates the South Africa all-rounder Jacques Kallis as the best cricketer he ever played with or against.

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“Brian Lara was the most skilful batsman I played against and when I was captain he gave me more sleepless nights than anybody. Sachin was technically as good as anyone I’ve seen, along with Rahul Dravid; I’d put Joe in there now as well, and Kane Williamson.

“Stokes is a hard one. Numbers don’t define him. It’s been about moments with him, he’s a situation player. When things get toughest he’s been at his best.

“When you’re talking about the greats, you’ve got to talk about impact on games. Joe said the other day the first part of his career he was all about numbers, but the back half it’s been about doing what he can to win games. The years I was playing, we were all lucky to be playing in a lot of winning teams.”

Ponting is one of cricket’s great winners but to English eyes he is also known for Ashes defeats as captain in England in 2005 and 2009, the first Australian skipper since the 1800s to lose twice on these shores. He is reminded about 2005 every times he comes, but takes it in good part.

“I joke about it now. It’s definitely the most captivating series I’ve played in but I got hit in the head in first Test and sent England in [to bat] in the second Test and they got 400 in a day. The third Test I thought I’d lost singlehandedly when I got out with a few overs to go and I was run out by a substitute in the fourth. Then I had to shake hands here [at the Oval] when bad light stopped play [accepting a draw that secured the series win for England]. Look at it that way, it wasn’t much fun.

Ponting is bowled by Graeme Swann at Edgbaston in 2009 on his way to becoming only the second Australia captain to lose two Ashes series in England – after Billy Murdoch in the 1800s TIMES NEWSPAPERS LTD

“The thing that struck me most was that through those couple of months there was no talk of football, it was cricket everywhere. It revitalised Ashes cricket and had a great impact on the Test match game around the world.”

It might have been different. Ponting had to sit down before the first Test with Shane Warne — who died in 2022 aged 52 — because he was concerned about whether his champion bowler was in a fit state. “I was worried. Photos had come out in the papers about his private life and I know for a fact his marriage was pretty much over.

“I rang him and said, ‘I need to have breakfast with you and chat about some stuff.’ I went down and started some spiel … ‘How you going to be? Are you all right to play?’ And he cut me off and said, ‘What are you talking about? Don’t worry, I’ll be fine. I’ll sort that stuff out. When it’s time to go and play, I’ll go play.’ And he did. He took 40 wickets. He was born to be on the big stage. That summed up what he was like as a competitor.”

Ponting and Warne at The Oval in 2005 THE TIMES PHOTOGRAPHER MARC ASPLAND

England’s disapproval of India’s batsmen playing on to get themselves hundreds at Old Trafford when the game was dead revived the debate about their tendency to hold up Bazball as superior to other ways of playing. Ponting accepts that the narrative around it may irritate some but says Australians have nothing against Bazball itself.

“I’m as Aussie as anyone and I love watching the way they play. The Aussies embraced it and learnt about it the last time they were here. They’ll have an understanding now of what is a slightly more refined version of what England started a few years ago.

“When it first started, it looked like Joe got carried away a bit. He changed his game. He’s gone back to playing normally. Ollie Pope is naturally aggressive and scores pretty quickly. Stokes might have the lowest strike rate of all the batters since it began [he does]. Duckett and Crawley are the two leading the way.

“So there’s been some refinement, and against the best teams they needed it.”

How Bazball goes down under remains to be seen, but Ponting will be there calling it, with his usual impeccable judgment.

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