Not sure why England opted for Chris Woakes when they have Mark Wood in the squad: Ricky Ponting

Former Australian cricket legend Ricky Ponting feels that England should have picked Mark Wood in the playing XI instead of Chris Woakes for the 2nd Ashes Test match against Australia at the Adelaide Oval. Ponting feels that Woakes was ineffective in the first innings of the 2nd Test and the Joe Root-led outfit should have picked Wood in the side.

Ponting further reasoned that Wood gives England a lot more variation, and added that Wood could have taken up the role that Ben Stokes is currently playing in the second rubber with the red cherry. Ponting also opined that the England side has its own think tank and they should know what they want from their men.

“Woakes was ineffective again – I’m not sure why they bothered picking him in Adelaide when they’ve got Wood there. To me Wood would have given them a lot more variation in their attack and then Stokes could have pitched it up and bowled like a normal seamer, which he’s good at, and Wood could have taken the role Stokes had.

That’s up for them – they’ve got their own think tank and the ways they think about the game and what they want to get out of their players,” said Ponting as quoted by cricket.com.au.

England bowlers were stubborn and unwilling to change: Ricky Ponting

Ponting also felt that England’s Plan A did not work, and the bowlers could not do much. Ponting also added that the England bowlers were stubborn, did not change their plans, and bowled back-of-a-length deliveries.

The former Aussie cricket legend concluded by stating that the plan did not work out against a good side like Australia.

“It looked like after Plan A didn’t work, they didn’t have much after that. It can also be stubbornness from the bowlers and the unwillingness to change – that’s what it looked like from Broad and Anderson with the new ball yesterday.

It was like, ‘No we’ll run in and bowl back-of-a-length, bowl tight, not give them any runs and before you know it they’ll be three or four down with the scoreboard not going anywhere’. Well. it didn’t happen and it doesn’t happen very often against good players,” concluded Ponting.