The opening day of the fifth and final Test between England and Australia saw the visitors seize control of the match, leaving them in a strong position to secure their first Ashes victory in England in 22 years. With their batsmen displaying astute tactics and resilience against challenging conditions, Australia ended the day at 61 for one, trailing England’s first-innings total of 283. Despite a day marked by errors from both sides, Australia’s measured approach seemed to be paying dividends.
England’s Batting Woes:
In contrast to Australia’s composed display, England’s batsmen seemed to struggle to find their rhythm, leading to a series of collapses throughout the day. Despite starting reasonably well at 62/0, they quickly faltered, slipping to 73/3 by the end of the first session. Later in the day, they faced another slump, going from 184/3 to a precarious 212/7 before tea.
Ricky Ponting’s Observations:
Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting weighed in on England’s batting troubles during the tea break, suggesting that their aggressive “Bazball” approach might be contributing to these collapses. While acknowledging that England’s brisk run-scoring kept the scoreboard moving, he also warned that such collapses might become a recurring theme if they continued with this style of play.
“250/7 and there were 40 overs to go in the day. 5 runs an over again. That’s what we are starting to expect, isn’t it? They’ve been slow today compared to last week [in Manchester] (chuckles),” Ponting said.
“Yes it’s been refreshing bit. We talked about the collapses. I think we can expect that with the way England are playing. We can expect that with a little bit of movement [for bowlers], the lights being on, couple of good balls here and there – and there’s their free-flowing style, I think we need to get used to those collapses happening.
“But, the thing that happens is, when you are scoring freely, those collapses don’t make that much of a dent on the scoreboard as they normally would. I mean if you have a collapse of 3/11 and 4/28 and you are not scoring, then you are 7/100,” he added.
Ponting highlighted that even with the loss of wickets in clusters, England’s free-flowing style allowed them to amass runs at a decent pace. However, he emphasized that if they were not scoring freely during those collapses, the impact on the overall score would be much more significant.
A Challenging Task for Australia:
Despite England’s struggles, Ponting recognized that the positive intent of their batsmen had set the game in motion, with 250 runs scored before the close of play. He noted that Australia would face a challenging task when they eventually took to the crease. The looming darkness and the conditions that favoured bowlers would pose a formidable challenge for the Australian batters.
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