20 January 2023 , 11:33
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Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting says he is 'excited' to see how England's new 'Bazball' approach under Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum fares in this summer's Ashes.
After Australia sealed victory in the 2021-22 series with two games to spare, Ponting was scathing in his criticism of England. "I don't think I've seen a worse-performing team in Australia than what I've seen over the last three games," was his verdict after England lost the third Test by an innings and 14 runs inside three days.
Since then, Stokes and McCullum have completely transformed England's Test team, encouraging a new positive and aggressive style of play and winning nine out of ten Tests against New Zealand, India, South Africa and Pakistan.
And Ponting has praised Stokes and McCullum for backing "really talented" and naturally attacking cricketers like Ben Duckett, Zak Crawley and Harry Brook, while also questioning if their approach will work against Australia.
"If you think back to their team here last year, they had guys like [Rory] Burns and [Haseeb] Hameed and [Dom] Sibley, that just made cricket look too hard," Ponting told Wisden Cricket Monthly.
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"You could tell that they weren't skilful enough to be long-term successful international players. Then what they've gone and done, Duckett and Crawley and Brook and these sort of guys, they're really talented ones.
Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum have completely transformed England's Test team (Matthew Lewis/Getty Images)"Can they play this way against Australia? Is it sustainable against really good opposition?
"Well, we'll have to wait and see. But that's the thing that excites me because there are so many questions unanswered."
Australia have held the Ashes since winning them back in the 2017-18 series, but they have not won a series in England since 2001 and this summer's contest should prove a truly fascinating one.