26 July 2023 , 12:33
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Ex-Australia skipper Ricky Ponting believes Ben Stokes' captaincy should be questioned after England's failure to regain the Ashes.
Australia lead the Ashes series 2-1 heading into the final Test match at The Oval after winning at Edgbaston and Lord's. England were victorious at Headingley to halve the deficit but couldn't repeat the feat at Old Trafford after rain forced the match into a draw.
Stokes and his players must now win at The Oval to draw 2-2 and stop Australia from winning a Test series in England for the first time since 2001. As the Aussies won the last Ashes series on home soil 18 months ago, a drawn series will see them retain the urn.
England were hopeful of regaining the Ashes at the start of the summer after winning 11 of their first 13 Tests under Stokes. Yet Australia skipper Pat Cummins has found a way to thwart England and impress his legendary compatriot Ponting.
"Everyone’s been talking about how England have outplayed Australia... if that’s the case, maybe there’s some questions to be asked about Ben Stokes' captaincy then," Ponting told the ICC Review podcast, as quoted by The Times.
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"If the fact is they’ve outplayed Australia and are still trailing in the series, I don’t think there should be too many questions about Pat, that’s for sure. I think Pat’s done a terrific job.
"For a couple of hours on day two [at Old Trafford], things looked like they were getting out of control, but the captain can’t be expected to have the exact right answer 100 per cent of the time. I don’t think it’s got the better of Pat - in fact, for Australia to be 2-1 up where they are right now you’d have to say that Pat’s done a terrific job."
Ben Stokes has failed to get the better of Pat Cummins (Getty Images)Do you agree with Ricky Ponting? Let us know in the comments below!
Cummins was handed the Australia captaincy when Tim Paine resigned in November 2021, just days before the last Ashes series. He's since led his country to 11 wins in 20 Tests, boasting series triumphs against England, Pakistan, West Indies and South Africa.
Cummins also became the first Australia captain to win the World Test Championship after beating India in June's final. But if his team ends Australia's 22-year wait for a Test series victory in England, that will surely be his greatest achievement.
Yet England are determined to win at The Oval, with batter Harry Brook targeting a "moral victory". He told reporters: "If we can win this week, it can almost make it a moral victory [in the series]. We were dominating the game [at Old Trafford] the whole way through and had it gone four or five days, I am pretty sure we would have easily won.
"They’ve only retained the Ashes, and if we win this week, it’s a draw, isn’t it? We’re just going to go out there and play the same way we have in this series.
"It’s a shame the weather ruined it for us because we’d have felt very confident going into this game at 2-2. The rain won last week."