Former Australia skipper Ricky Ponting has warned the Aussie side to be prepared for a major tactical change in England’s batting order for the Manchester Test scheduled to get underway from July 19. Notably, England showed great resistance and pulled off a close win against the visitors in the previous Test match at Headingley, halting the visitor’s winning run in the Ashes 2023.
The sensational performance from the English side came after facing back-to-back losses in the first two games. Although it was a collective effort of the hosts that helped them stay alive in the five-match series, Mark Wood and Harry Brook played a major role in their team’s victory. Wood bagged seven overall wickets across two innings, while Brook top-scored with a brilliant 75 runs in the fourth innings for England.
The third Test not just marked an epic comeback for the English side but also brought up many positives for them. However, it also highlighted a problem in the Three Lions’ batting order of not finding a suitable no. 3 despite promoting Brook and Moeen Ali up the order. Veteran Aussie cricketer Ponting has now predicted a bold change in England’s batting order and also named the batter that might bat at the third position for the hosts in the Manchester Test.
Speaking on the ICC Review show, Ponting started by saying that England would look to go with the winning team and not opt for any change. He further reckoned that Ben Stokes is the most suitable for the no. 3 batting position, and England might send him up the order.
“I actually thought that Ben Stokes might have batted himself at number three at Headingley when I realised that Pope was out and Moeen and Woakes came back in. To me he’s got the technique to survive at the top and Moeen hasn’t. We saw that in the second innings. I’m not sure if Harry Brook is ever going to be a top-order Test match batsman. I think he’s always going to be a four, five or six type batter with the way that he plays,” said Ponting.
“I thought the opportunity was there for Ben because a lot of the time with Stokes and, you know this is no knock on him whatsoever as he’s a terrific player, but a lot of the time he’s got to come in and play a Mr Fix-It role when it’s almost like a damage control sort of role where I’ve always felt that if he batted at No.3 then he could sort of stop some of that damage with the technique that he’s got,” he added.
The 48-year-old even cautioned Australia to be ready for the change and stated: “And the fact that he’s probably not going to bowl if they go in with the same bowling attack, he’s probably not going to bowl in the Test match, so it gives him a chance to be fresher to bat up the order. So that would be something that I’d be thinking about if I was England and certainly something that Australia should be ready for.”
