'It’s proactive captaincy' - Ricky Ponting hails England's rebooted, recharged leadership approach

The duo of Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum have revolutionised the way Test cricket was previously played. There were instances of players playing an aggressive brand of cricket, like Virender Sehwag, Adam Gilchrist or Chris Gayle, but in the current England batch, every cricketer seemed to have adopted the philosophy, and it is eventually producing results for the national team.

Meanwhile, it is not just batting; Stokes, through his captaincy, has made some bold moves and is making a difference. For instance, on the third day of the first Ashes Test, the all-rounder set an unconventional field that Ricky Ponting later stated that he has never seen something quite like that in the history of the game. He eventually got the result as Usman Khawaja, who was looking really dangerous with the bat, had to walk back to the pavilion after scoring 141 runs.

Thus, lauding Stokes for his tactful leadership, Ponting stated that he is making a difference and taking Test cricket to a completely new level. He also spoke about England’s positive attitude so far under Stokes’ leadership.

“It’s hard to keep up with them all, he’s making a change almost every ball, which is great, it’s proactive captaincy. He’s always trying to move the game forward, he’s looking at any little way that he possibly can to pick up a wicket and change the momentum of the game. You don’t see that every day. And that’s a sign of what’s to come, but also a sign of this change of attitude from the current England team,” Ponting stated while talking to ICC.

“There was a lot of chat around will Bazball stand up? Are they going to be courageous enough to play that way against the Australians? Well, I think that question has been answered for us. It’s certainly there, the way that they want to play, this bold new approach to Test match cricket, trying to make bold decisions at any stage in the game where they can,” the 48-year-old added.