“We’re preparing as best we can, and we’ll look forward to the next game,” Root said.
Ricky Ponting believes that England’s Bazballers are incapable of change in time to avoid offering a flurry of chances to Australia’s slips cordon in Brisbane.
England’s recklessness with the bat in Perth – batting for just 67 overs in total – was summed up best by the second-innings dismissals of Ollie Pope, Harry Brook and Root, all falling to extravagant drives on Perth’s bouncy deck. The Gabba will also offer bounce, plus humidity to aid swing.
Scott Boland celebrates the wicket of Harry Brook in Perth.Credit: Getty Images
Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum have insisted on maintaining their combative approach, despite mounting criticism from influential past players. It’s a stance that Ponting believes boxes them into the same approach in Brisbane.
“I don’t think they can [change], and I don’t think they’ll be allowed to,” Seven commentator Ponting told this masthead. “The way they’ve played and built up over a few years of playing a certain way, I don’t think they’ll be able to do it.
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“If there was ever a time they were going to do it, it was the last couple days [in Perth]. Even listening to Stokes, he’s saying the guys who went out and had success went hard. But there’s ways to go hard in Australia and ways to go hard in other parts of the world.
“Some of those shots, you just can’t get away with them in Perth, but they knew that, and they weren’t able to change. With their mentality I think they’ll go even harder again in Brisbane. If they do, you can expect similar results.”
Despite their batting frailties in Perth and a dearth of pink-ball, day-night Test experience, England’s first-choice top six declined the chance to play against the Prime Minister’s XI in Canberra this weekend.
England will instead add extra floodlit training sessions leading into the Gabba Test next Thursday, amid concerns of another early finish given the pace at which day-night matches can move. Ponting argued that, with Cummins on track to return to the Australian side next week, England have already missed their best opportunity.
“That’s the disappointing thing,” he said. “With [Scott] Boland taking the new ball, [Brendan] Doggett on debut … if they got through Starc with the new ball then things would’ve been a little bit easier than what it’ll be in Brisbane. If Cummins comes back, it only gets harder.”
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