Former Australia legandary skipper Ricky Ponting has said that if England doesn’t win the second Test of the ongoing Ashes series at the Adelaide Oval then they are in a store to repeat for a whitewash like in 2006/07.
Australia defeated England by 9 wickets in the first Ashes Test in Brisbane while chasing the target of just 20 runs.
“The conditions are only going to get better for Australia. Those conditions (in Brisbane) were very English-like. There was more pace and bounce but as far as their bowling is concerned, they’re probably not going to get that much movement anywhere else for the entire series. We saw them bowl really well on the last tour in Adelaide under lights where everything just fell perfectly into place,” Ponting was quoted as saying by cricket.com.au.
“Australia had to bat for a session, the lights were on, brand new ball, clear night. We’ve also been to Adelaide at other times when the pink ball has done nothing, whether it’s a new ball or not. If they don’t win in Adelaide then there could be shades of ’06-07,” added Ponting, the winning captain of the 2006/07 series.
England had rested their veteran pacers Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad in the opening fixture and Australia batter were in top-notch form in the opening Gabba Test where they scored 425 runs in the first innings with Travis Head (152) being the top-scorer.
Speaking on Anderson and Broad’s omission, Ponting said, “I can’t see why they would have left them (Broad and Anderson) out if they weren’t just getting them prepped and ready for Adelaide. I’m still staggered to this point now. If Stuart Broad and James Anderson are not better bowlers in Australia than Chris Woakes, then I’m not here. One of those two had to play. It might be that they’re only going to play one of Broad or Anderson in Adelaide. A lot of it might just depend on how Stokes pulls up between now and the start of the Adelaide game.”
