Ricky Ponting has laughed off reports suggesting that England were not results driven and put playing positive cricket above winning during the first Ashes Test.

England took some bold calls during the first Test and eventually lost it by 2 wickets. On the very first day of the Test, Ben Stokes sent shockwaves in the cricketing world by declaring the innings after just 78 overs. England were on 393 for 8 with Joe Root unbeaten on 118 at that stage.

In the second innings too, England did not leave their aggressive approach and were all out for 273, thus setting Australia a tough but gettable target of 281 runs. England did well with the ball too and had Australia reeling at 227 for 8 but failed to take the last two wickets. Nathan Lyon and Pat Cummins shared an unbeaten stand of 55 runs to take their team home in style.

Ricky Ponting on England’s approach:

Following the defeat, many suggested that England did not care about the result and were keen to play positive cricket. Stokes and Brendon McCullum also insisted that they did not regret their decisions and vowed to play in the same manner. Ricky Ponting, however, is having none of it. The legendary skipper highlighted the importance of the Ashes as he told ICC:

“I don’t believe that for a second. This is an Ashes series, this is the biggest challenge that Ben Stokes has had in his career as a captain.

“I’m not copping that. I mean, if they‘re not results driven, they wouldn’t be disappointed at all about losing. And it seemed to me last night, and he said it, that all his players were in pieces at the end of that game. So that means to me that they do care about losing, and you should,” he added.

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