The last Ashes series in Australia was a nightmare for the English batsmen, all thanks to fiery spells of fast bowling by Mitchell Johnson. Johnson picked up 37 wickets in the last Ashes on Australian soil and single-handedly won the Ashes for the Aussies. Just a day before the start of the Ashes, former Australian skipper Ricky Ponting has made a strong statement saying that the Australian team will be comfortable winners for the upcoming series and England stand no chance with the current squad.

Many former cricketers and pundits have predicted their winners and the scoreline of the series, but very few have been so biased towards a team like Ponting. Ponting led the Australian team which whitewashed the English touring team in 2006/07and believes the series is going to be no different this time around as well.

The reason he has given for his strong statement is that he believes that current England squad is too reliant on the experience of Alastair Cook, James Anderson and Stuart Broad. Ponting said,
“I honestly can’t see England winning a game with this squad of players they’ve got here, The reason I say this is because they’re going to rely on (Alastair) Cook, (Jimmy) Anderson and (Stuart) Broad and, as good as those guys have been, they’re not going to improve as cricketers. I’ve been there myself. When you get to a certain age and you’ve played a lot of cricket, you try and maintain and hang on but you’re never going to get better.”

Ponting also believes that the inexperienced batting line-up comprising Dawid Malan, James Vince and Mark Stoneman will struggle and will have no answers to the fiery Australian bowling attack. According to Ponting, Ben Stokes participation in the series will not have any significant impact on the result of the series. He admitted that he had no idea if all rounder will come to Australia or not. He said:
“It seems like there’ve been a few murmurings the last couple of days that it seems pretty strongly that he might come out for a few games. It would great to see him play. It would be great for the series.”

Ponting said that the only way England can avoid any humiliation in the series is a win in the Day/Night Test in Adelaide. Ricky said:
“Day-night, pink ball, generally in the last few games there there’s been a bit more grass on the wicket, That will suit their seamers down to the ground. If Australia get through the Adelaide Test, which is the second Test, and we’re not behind in the series, then England will find it really tough.”