Ashes: Ponting tears into Joe Root's leadership in 2nd Test; 'why are you captain then?'

Legendary Australian skipper Ricky Ponting has slammed the leadership of England skipper Joe Root after their defeat in the second Test match of the Ashes 2021-22 series at the Adelaide Oval against Australia. England were defeated by 275 runs in the recently concluded day-night pink-ball Test while chasing a fourth-innings target of 468 runs, set by Australia. After the match, Root expressed his thoughts on the reason England lost the match, by saying he thinks England didn’t bowl in the right lengths and made the same mistakes they did during their 0-4 series defeat four years ago. 

Australia scored a grand total of 473 runs at the loss of nine wickets in the first innings as England failed to bowl them out. Meanwhile, having led the criticism of England’s bowling unit in the first two days of the Adelaide Test, during a conversation with cricket.com.au, Ponting lambasted Root by suggesting that he should have issued an ultimatum to his bowlers regarding bowling in the right lengths. As reported by cricket.com.au, on listening to Root’s words, Ponting said, “I nearly fell off my seat when I heard that whose job is it then to make them change? Why are you captain then? If you can't influence your bowlers on what length to bowl, what are you doing on the field?”

Ricky Ponting says, "If they're not going to listen, you take them off"

The Aussie legend further added that Root can say whatever he likes but if he is the skipper, he should be able to sense if the bowlers aren’t bowling in the right areas. “And if they're not going to listen, you take them off, simple as that. Give someone else a chance that is going to do it for you. Or you have a really strong conversation with them on the field to tell them what you need. That's what captaincy is all about,” Ponting added. Earlier during the post-match presentation, after Australia took the 2-0 lead in the Ashes 2021-22 series, Joe Root admitted the bowlers needed to bowl fuller as they did in the second innings of the match.

Image: AP