Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting believes England pacer Ollie Robinson did not look dangerous in the Ashes because he only took wickets of last batsmans. The England bowler took three wickets in the second Test of the Lord’s Ashes series against Australia on Thursday. He also took five wickets in the first Ashes Test.
Ponting in the ICC Review said: “I don’t think he looked dangerous at all in the series. I mean, if you look at the batting, he has got tailsenders every game. Yeah, he got Marnus (Labuschagne) on that shift here. But then he got (Nathan) Lyon and then (Josh) Hazlewood. So if he didn’t get out 10 and 11, he ends his innings with one wicket after more than four runs and an over.
“He’s a very good bowler, there’s no doubt about that and nobody would have said a word about Ollie Robinson if he hadn’t pushed him on what’s happened over the last couple of weeks. And to be honest, I think the whole thing is was blown out of proportion.
“It’s something that everyone liked to talk about and some former players enjoyed jumping in and enjoying themselves, but at the end of the day he’s a good bowler and, as you say, his numbers so far. The series is actually okay,”
Ponting added After the first Test, the Australians lead the Ashes series 1-0. In the second Test, Australia scored 16 runs in the first innings and in reply England were 278/ on the second day. Ponting also mentioned that England have approached all seamers in the absence of injured spinner Moeen Ali as they do not have enough good spinners.
“As it turned out, Joe Root got two wickets in the first innings anyway and to be honest I think the obvious reason they haven’t (picked a spinner) is because they don’t think they’re good enough and they’re not. playing. Test cricket.” , added the former Australian captain. Ponting said the selection will be assessed after the game is over, but things are looking good for the England side so far.
“Ideally, I’m sure they would have wanted Mark Wood to play. He wasn’t quite right, so they went with Tongue, who actually looked pretty good. He’s got a bit of a different action, a front chest movement that makes the ball swing. .off of the right hand. We will assess the options at the end of the game but things are going well for England at the moment considering what they are doing with the bat at the moment,” he added.