Former Australian skipper Ricky Ponting excepts David Warner to do well in the next test against England in the 4th test of the high-octane Ashes series. The Australian opener had mixed series so far in England, as he failed to capitalize on the good starts to the innings.
Stuart Broad has been David Warner’s nemesis in Test cricket. The Australia opener has a terrible record against the England pacer in the longest format of the game. Before the fourth test, Broad and David Warner faced each other in 29 Tests and the pacer had dismissed the southpaw 17 times.
Speaking on ICC Test Review, Ricky Ponting admitted that they are a lot of talks around David Warner’s place in the Australian following his dismissal against Stuart Broad in the third test of the Ashes Series, as he failed to get going against Stuart Broad with the new ball spell.
“I know there’s been a lot of chat the last couple of days since the end of Headingley and it’s more the fact that it’s Broad that’s getting him out.
“I think if it was anybody else, the noise probably wouldn’t be quite as loud, but the fact that he struggled to get through the opening spells of Broad a few times in this series again, makes it a little bit more of a worry,” Ricky Ponting said.
When Australia visited England in 2019 for the Ashes, Broad had pretty much bullied Warner. The right-arm pacer had dismissed him 7 times in 10 innings as the batsman managed to score only 95 runs during the disastrous series and in the ongoing series Warner was dismissed three times by Broad.
If I’m Ben Stokes, Even If David Warner Gets Through The First Spell… -Ricky Ponting
Ricky Ponting understands the situation of David Warner, having played against the top quality teams and bowlers in the past, and said that if he was the captain of England then he would try to get the wicket of David Warner using Stuart Broad and believes that being dismissed by a same bowler in number of times becomes a mental battle more than that of the technical issues.
“And the reason I say that is because I’ve played against teams in the past and bowlers in the past where you just know that they’ve got the wood on you and they’re on top of you and you just can’t get away from it. If I’m Ben Stokes, even if David Warner gets through the first spell of Stuart Broad, then I’ll give him a short break and I’ll bring him back again”.
“When someone’s got you out 17 times, it does become as much a mental or probably more of a mental battle than it does a technical battle,” Ricky Ponting added
It will interesting to see whether the Australian team plays the underperforming David Warner or bring in young Matt Renshaw or Marcus Harris into the playing 11 for the next test match. Pat Cummins-led side are leading the series 2-1 and they will look to win a series in away conditions after 21 years.