If David Warner starts the same way he started in first innings, then I think he will make some runs at Edgbaston: Ricky Ponting

The first Ashes Test is tantalizingly poised with both teams having a great chance to bag the win, to go 1-0 up at Edgbaston. Australia will be batting in the fourth innings, and former captain Ricky Ponting felt that it is imperative that David Warner comes good.

According to Ponting, Warner's 43 in the first innings of the recently-concluded World Test Championship final was a well-compiled knock. The southpaw got out cheaply for 9 in the first innings of the ongoing Edgbaston Test to Stuart Broad, someone who has had the upper hand against him in recent years. In fact, Broad dismissed Warner for the ninth time in 11 innings on English soil. However, Ponting noted that during Warner's brief stay at the crease, the swashbuckling opener looked better than he has in the last couple of years in Test cricket.

"I thought he looked really good in the first innings of the WTC Final; the 40-odd he made there, he played really well. And even though he made nine in the first innings here, the way he actually started his innings was the best I've seen him start in two years of Test cricket. So it's still there," Ponting said while speaking after the close of play on Day 3 as quoted by India Today.

If he starts the same way that he started in the first innings, then I think he will make some runs: Ricky Ponting

Warner could not get going in the first innings as his nine runs came off 27 balls. While trying to break the shackles, the left-hander threw his hands at a widish delivery and dragged it back onto the stumps. Ponting felt that Warner's batting in the second innings will be crucial for his career and also for Australia.

"I think the fact that he wasn't able to score as freely as he would've wanted at the start of that innings played a part in him playing the shot that he did. But there's no doubt the second innings is an important one for him – not just for his career's sake, but it's going to be a big innings as far as this game and this series goes. If he starts the same way that he started in the first innings, then I think he will make some runs," Ponting added.

England finished Day 3 at 28/2 with a 35-run lead. Openers, Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett have been dismissed as Ollie Pope and Joe Root will resume on Day 4.