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Ricky Ponting has seen a team play at an up-tempo run rate while dominating Test cricket.
And it’s not the current England team.
The former Australian captain delivered a reality check to the current England team members who have been claiming that they are saving Test cricket with their high-octane style of play.
Australia, under Steve Waugh and Ponting a generation ago, turned Test cricket on its head by often scoring at more than four runs an over.
And they broke several records along the way, including twice recording 16 wins on the trot.
“Thinking of some of the champion teams I was in, we were scoring at a very similar rate to what England are now but we were doing it better and for longer periods of time which you have to be able to do in Test cricket,” Ponting said on finance guru Mark Bouris’ podcast.
“We just saw a Test match finish in two days on the back of that style of play.
“They need to be willing to change the way they play and accept they are making mistakes.
“They made so many glaring mistakes in Perth to let Australia back into the game and lose what was looking to be an unloseable Test match.
“Yet after the match they came back and defended they way they played, (saying) ‘we’ll go harder next time’.
“The great teams I played in, if we had a day like that we’d sit down and we’d make sure we fixed that style of play for next time.
“Sure you back your style in, but you have to play the moments as well.”
He doesn’t expect them to show the self-awareness required to change their ways when the Gabba Test gets underway on Thursday.
Ricky Ponting in 2005. (Photo by Hamish Blair/Getty Images)
“England won’t change their style. They have themselves set in this way and they believe it’s the only way they’re going to beat Australia in Australia,” he said.
“They can do it. They can bounce back, but they have to win those moments.
“If they’re not in the mindset in the middle of the Test to say ‘maybe it’s time to refine things a little bit because this is what my team needs me to do right now’ then they’ll keep getting the same results.”
Ponting said when the Test was there to be won at Optus Stadium, the player who stood up to be counted was not among the touring team.
“When the moments come in an Ashes series, let’s see who’s standing up at the end of it,” he added.
“Last week we saw the character come out – Australia were down and done, Travis Head makes a hundred in 80 balls and the game is over.
“England weren’t just losing the moment, they were losing the game. They now need to win three of the next four Test matches if they want to go home with the Ashes.”