Ashes 2023: Ricky Ponting praises ‘fantastic’ Ben Stokes captaincy

London: Ricky Ponting has been thoroughly impressed with England and 'Bazball' in the opening three days of the Edgbaston Ashes Test.

Ponting was one of many pundits and former players to discuss whether England would be able to successfully play in their new attacking style against a team of Australia’s calibre.

And the former Australia captain told Sanjana Ganesan on the latest episode of The ICC Review that he has thoroughly enjoyed seeing the question answered.

“There was a lot of chat around 'will Bazball stand up? Are they going to be courageous enough to play that way against the Australians?’,” Ponting said.

“Well, I think that question has been answered for us," he said.

“It’s certainly there, the way that they want to play, this bold new approach to Test match cricket, trying to make bold decisions at any stage in the game where they can," Ponting said.

“(Opener) Zak Crawley made a pretty big statement on the game I thought. First ball of the Test match, Australia captain (Pat Cummins) running in, ball one of an Ashes series and he stands up on top of the bounce and crunches one through the covers first ball," he said.

“You don't see that every day. And that's a sign of what's to come, but also a sign of this change of attitude from the current England team,” Ponting said.

England captain Ben Stokes tried all sorts of experimental field placings and bowling tactics during Australia's first innings in Birmingham, with a highly-unusual field helping remove centurion Usman Khawaja on day three.

And Ponting says Stokes’ commitment to moving things forward is a fantastic fillip for the Test game.

“It’s hard to keep up with them all, he's making a change almost every ball, which is great, it's proactive captaincy. He's always trying to move the game forward, he's looking at any little way that he possibly can to pick up a wicket and change the momentum of the game," Ponting noted.

“With Khawaja’s innings, I'd hate to try and count how many times he changed the field for him and how many bowling changes and tactical changes he made to try and get Khawaja out - and then it finally worked," he said.

“I don't think I've ever seen a field like that in Test cricket before. There was just an umbrella of fielders around in-front of the batsman's face. And it was all about bowling a couple of slower balls and being able to bowl a yorker. And sure enough, Khawaja used his feet, gave himself some room, gave up his stumps, and the yorker knocked his off stump out of the ground," Ponting said.

“It's fantastic stuff. It's really refreshing for the Test game to see a team play this way and a captain happy to try everything he possibly can,” he said.

One setback for England came when their spinner Moeen Ali was fined for using a spray on his finger towards the end of the second day’s play.

It later emerged that Moeen had injured his spinning finger.

“I happened to be on air at the time, and I, like Moeen, didn't know that rule,” Ponting said.

“I thought it was that perspiration spray that some of the batsmen will put under their gloves to stop their hands sweating as much. I didn't know what was going on, and obviously Moeen didn't understand either, or he wouldn't have done it," he said.

“But it's become pretty clear now why he was doing it and he's put his hand up and accepted that and copped the fine. With no malice intended, I just think he made a mistake, he's owned up to it and it's time to move on," Ponting said.

“We saw the same thing happen with (Ravindra) Jadeja recently. So those two guys have made mistakes and I think everyone will now understand those rules a whole lot clearer and be pretty careful what they put on their hands,” he said.

Moeen Ali fined for breaching ICC Code of Conduct

But Ponting also believes that Moeen’s injury could yet have a big influence on the result of the first Test.

“I think we saw as the first innings went on that his bowling sort of dropped off a little bit and you could see that he was in a fair bit of pain. With this wicket playing the way that it is, it's going to take a lot of turn in the last two days. And if England haven't got a spinner, then I think their backs are to the wall," Ponting said..

“They're going to need to bat really well, they're going to need a big score I think if Australia are not to have a chance of chasing it down," he said.

“I think it's pretty even. I'm going to sit on the fence a little bit, but I'm really excited about what the next two days hold," Ponting added. (UNI)