Australia Have To Work Out What Their Brand Of One-day Cricket Is Going To Be: Ricky Ponting

Former Australia skipper Ricky Ponting has sent out a timely reminder to the Aaron Finch-led side, stating that the current team needs to work on its game to be fully prepared for the 2023 World Cup.

The legendary cricketer’s comment have come just before the three-match ODI series between Australia and England. Aaron Finch & Co. would be desperate to put on a good show and make up for their horror show in England in 2018 when they were whitewashed in the five-match series.

Last year, England had defeated them in the World Cup semifinal too and recently beat them in the three-match T20I series. But Ricky Ponting said Australia are in good spot as far as T20Is and Tests are concerned but need to work on their ODI game.

“We’ll see how the Aussie boys go, but they’ve still got some work to do on their one-day cricket, I think. We know their T20 cricket of late has been good and we know their Test cricket has been outstanding, but there’s still a few little holes in their one-day game and hopefully they can patch them up over the next week or so,” cricket.com.au quoted Ricky Ponting as saying.

“There’s not too many holes, but I think they just have to work out what their brand of one-day cricket is going to be and how they’re going to go about it because there’s no doubt the talent’s all there. You look at that squad right now and that group of players you’ve got over there, it’s a very good squad,” he added.

One of the aspects that Australia need to work on is to get a solid player at number three. Over the last 30 ODIs that they have played, the management has tried out six different players for the crucial batting position. Usman Khawaja (10 innings), Steve Smith (9), Shaun Marsh (6), Glenn Maxwell (2), Marcus Stoinis and Peter Handscomb (each 1) are the batsmen who have been tried out for the slot without much success.

“They need to find someone that’s going to bat at No.3 for them for a long time. It’s such a pivotal role, they need to find someone who’s going to be a long-term player there. Whether that’s Marnus Labuschagne there and Smith at four, or whether it’s the other way round, who knows what it’s going to be,” Ricky Ponting said.

The three-match ODI will start on Friday at the Emirates Old Trafford in Manchester.

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