England needs to make batting changes, says Ricky Ponting

England’s batting line-up was exposed once again during the second Test as the host’s seam bowlers along with the spinner Nathan Lyon ripped the English batsmen. The visitors could only manage 227 runs in the first innings which gave the Australians a vital 120 run lead. In the second innings, chasing a target as huge as 354, they needed experienced Cook to come to the fore and give them a good start. He failed, so did the others apart from skipper Joe Root. A fighting century from the captain couldn’t help the side when Hazelwood had Root nicking one to the wicketkeeper, Tim Paine. Starc didn’t take long to finish the tail as Australia took a 2-0 lead going to the third Test at the WACA, Perth. During the first Test too, the visitors failed to pile up runs and they only scored 302 and 196 in both the innings.

Talking about English batting, former Australia captain Ricky Ponting said that the English will have to come up with better batting performances in order to compete with the Australians bowlers and to do so they will have to make a lot of changes in their batting. While speaking to cricket.com.au after the game, Ponting said,  “I think they’ll make a lot of changes for the next Test”.

“Root has a lot to think about, so has the coach and a lot of other players. They’ve got to have a good look at themselves and work out how to be competitive in this series,” said Ponting to cricket.com.au.

Speaking of Root’s decision to bowl first after winning the toss on the first day, Ponting said, “He decided to give his best bowlers the best of the conditions to bowl in and when the captain does that you need the bowlers to back you up”.

As per Ponting, the English bowlers didn’t turn up and couldn’t back the skipper’s decision on the first morning of the day. Australia piled the runs in the first innings which helped them get a crucial lead which helped them post a bigger total after they were bowled out cheaply in the 2nd innings.

The third Test starts from 14th of December which gives the English side some time to tinker and prepare for the WACA match.