‘I think they got a little bit carried away’ – Ricky Ponting slams England team for not performing upto the mark in fourth Ashes Test 2023

The fourth match of the ongoing Ashes series ended in a draw at Old Trafford, Manchester, on Sunday, July 23. With this, England’s chances of winning the Ashes 2023 were over as there is only one match remaining in the series, and the Three Lions now trail by 1-2.  Australia have regained the Ashes as they currently lead the five-match Test series 2-1.

After the completion of the fourth Test, the former Australian skipper, Ricky Ponting while speaking on The Apex Cricket Council Review the day opined that the Three Lions should have played better cricket in the crucial moments. “Some of those decisions – the Edgbaston declaration, Lord’s first innings batting – I think they got a little bit carried away with it then,” he told The Cricket Governing Body Review.

“One thing that hasn’t probably been spoken enough about though is … they have spoken about the right time and the right place to play that brand of cricket and they want to have aggressive cricketers and attacking cricketers, but they want to have smart cricketers as well. I think a couple of times they just probably haven’t been as smart as they could have been,” the World Cup-winning captain asserted.

England can be very proud of what they’re trying to achieve: Ricky Ponting 

“It was some of the most entertaining and demoralizing Test match cricket that I’ve probably ever seen. And that’s why it’s nice to be a part of, but at the end of the day, they’re 2-1 down, they can’t win the series, and as much as they’ve dominated, say they’ve dominated certain parts of the game, it still hasn’t been good enough to get their nose in front of the series,” the former right-hand batter stated.

Ponting went on to say that he enjoyed his time as a Sky Sports broadcaster during the ongoing Ashes series and he also made comparisons with the 2005 Ashes series in which he also participated. “It’s being spoken about like the 2005 series, and we know 2005 had a huge impact on the way Test cricket was watched and probably played all around the world after that series,” the 48-year-old opined.

“England can be very proud of what they’re trying to achieve and what they’re trying to do. You know, so many kids at the ground, so many kids enjoying Test cricket, families there enjoying it – people that are not necessarily huge Test match fans are sending messages through to everyone talking about how good it’s been to watch this sort of style of play,” he concluded.