Ricky Ponting names the key batsman for England in the Ashes

If English skipper Joe Root isn’t the best batsman in the world at the moment, then he certainly is in the league of the best. With the astonishingly matured knocks and over 5000 Test runs at the age of 26, he has given the English fans the reliability which they longed for. This might angry the Three Lions supporters, but Ricky Ponting feels the Yorkshire man isn’t going to be the key batsman for England in the Ashes.

The former Australian skipper, who has been a part of numerous such clashes and rivalries, feels that the veteran Alastair Cook is going to be the main man at the crease for the Brits. Not that his recent form is something that should make the English coach, Trevor Bayliss proud, but Punter feels Cook’s enormous baggage of experience will come in to account in the upcoming Ashes.

“(Alastair Cook’s) who I would target. I would take one of the most experienced players in world cricket down at the top and make life difficult as I could for him. Then maybe it could have a ripple effect down their batting line-up as well,” said the Tasmanian, as per reports in BT Sport.

He strongly feels that Root should get his predecessor, Cook “off the hook”, now that his performance is dripping down.

Elaborating on what targeting a player actually means, the owner of over 13000 runs in both Test and ODI cricket respectively, said, “At the end of the day, what does (targeting a player) mean?. You try to make it as hard and as difficult as you can for every single one of those players. Whichever England batsmen that’s batting at the time, then Australia should be making it as hard as possible for that player.”

Make it hard for Broad and Anderson

Now that Root won’t have the services of either Ben Stokes or Steven Finn, a lot depends on the veteran duo- Stuart Broad & James Anderson. Ponting thinks the Aussie batters must counter-pressurize the deadly duo, in an attempt to neutralize their threat.

“When Broad and Anderson have got the ball in their hand every Australian batsmen should be making it as hard as they possibly can for them as well. You can’t afford just to focus on one or two players if you’re going into an Ashes series. And as we’ve seen in the past, it’s a whole lot more than that,” the 42-year-old concluded.