Legendary Australia captain Ricky Ponting has said that England should consider sending skipper Ben Stokes to bat at number 3. England cricket team is all set to face Australia in the fourth Test match of the ongoing 5-match Ashes 2023 series at Old Trafford in Manchester on July 19th.
England cricket team suffered a major blow ahead of the third Test as their number 3 batter Ollie Pope was ruled out of the ongoing Ashes series because of an injury. They suffered a blow in the lineup as they didn’t have a proper number 3 batter in the team for the upcoming Headingley Test.
In the third game, England in the first innings asked Harry Brook to bat at number 3 but they failed terribly as struggled to get going and were bundled out without scoring huge numbers. In the second innings, they tried something new and send Moeen Ali to bat.
Ricky Ponting Backed Ben Stokes To Bat at Number 3
Speaking to the ICC Review, Ponting said he’s not sure if Harry Brook could ever be a top-order batter in Test cricket. Brook scored 75 runs in the second innings at Headingley to help the England cricket team defeat Australia by 3 wickets. He said:
“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,”
Further, Ponting went on to say that Ben Stokes could stop the damage that his side has been enduring if he bats at number 3. He has been batting at number 6 throughout the Ashes 2023 series and has amassed 309 runs in three games. Ponting said:
“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,”
Ponting said England should consider sending their skipper at number 3, while this will be something that Australia should be ready for. He said:
“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,”
Australia is currently leading the five-match Test series by 2-1 and they will be looking forward to sealing the five-match Ashes 2023 series when they take on England in Manchester.
