Ricky Ponting
Ricky Ponting. Image- Twitter

Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting bats for the inclusion of fast bowlers Jhye Richardson and Riley Meredith for the home Ashes in December/January later.

Prior to the 5-Test riveting contest with England, Australia will host Afghanistan for a one-off Test. That Test would be the only match for Australia ahead of the Ashes – they don’t have any Test scheduled between the India series and the Afghanistan Test after pulling out of the tour of South Africa.

Jhye Richardson (Getty)
Jhye Richardson. (Photo: Getty Images)

Observing the series loss to India, where Australia’s pace troika – Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, and Mitchell Starc – seemed tired and fatigued by the fourth Test in Brisbane, Ricky Ponting suggests the selectors should look in for the extra pace and energy of Jhye Richardson, who played in a couple of Tests in 2019, and Riley Meredith, who has made his T20I debut this year.

“You can have the same sort of conversation with a Riley Meredith and a Jhye Richardson. They both have a chance of playing some Test cricket in that Ashes series and that might just spark the bowling group on a little bit as well,” Ricky Ponting told cricket.com.au.

Out of those three guys one of them will be batting in the middle: Ricky Ponting

Ricky Ponting, who led Australia to Ashes victory in 2006/07, names three batsmen – Travis Head, Moises Henriques, and Marcus Harris – out of which, he says, one should be playing in the middle-order in the Ashes following the axing of Matthew Wade.

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travis head
Travis Head. Image-Twitter/ICC

While Harris played in the Brisbane Test as an opener, he would be replaced by Will Pucovski; Head, who had previously been the vice-captain as well, was dropped from the side owing to his dismal form; Henriques would find it tough to play as an all-rounder in Cameron Green’s presence.

“I think they’ve just got to work on who their best player is and if it’s Harris, if it’s Head, if it’s Henriques – work out who it is and give them a chance there. That’s probably just going to come down to the weight of runs. Out of those three guys, I think one of them will be batting in the middle,” the former skipper further opined.