Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting took an aim at England seamer Ollie Robinson for dragging his name while defending his aggressive send-off of Usman Khawaja, saying the English bowler needs to “back up his words with skills”.
During Australia’s first innings on Day-3 of the opening Test, Robinson successfully dismissed Khawaja for 141 and gave a raucous send-off to the batter while celebrating, which might have involved some abusive words.
When questioned on his behaviour towards Khawaja after dismissing him in the first innings, Robinson said: “We’ve all seen Ricky Ponting, other Aussies do the same to us. Just because the shoe is on the other foot’ it’s not received well.”
While speaking on the ICC Review podcast, Ponting shot back at Robinson, saying the English seamer might be better placed focusing on his own performance rather than looking back at Ashes history.
“As I said after Ollie Robinson said what he said, this England cricket team hasn’t played against Australia and they’ll find out pretty quickly what playing Ashes cricket and playing against a good Australian cricket team is all about. And if Ollie Robinson hasn’t learned that already after last week, then he’s a slow learner,” Ponting said.
“Some of the things he had to say — I mean he even brought my name into it, which I felt was a little bit unusual but for me, it’s water off a duck’s back — if he is sitting back thinking about me, then no wonder he bowled like the way that he did in that game if he’s worried about what I did 15 years ago.
“He’ll learn pretty quickly that if you’re going to talk to Australian cricketers in an Ashes series, then you want to be able to back it up with your skills,” he added.
Meanwhile, the former Australia skipper questioned whether England are being entirely truthful about their mantra that results don’t matter, referring to Ben Stokes’ post-match quotes about how players were “in absolute pieces” in the dressing room after Edgbaston loss, adding that losing in such a manner was always a risk for a’team that isn’t “results-driven”.
“I’ve heard them say that before, t’at they’re not”results driven’, but I don’t believe that for a second. This is an Ashes series, this is the biggest challenge that Ben Stokes has had in his career as a captain,” Ponting noted.
“I’m not copping that. I mean, if they’re not results driven, they wouldn’t be disappointed at all about losing. And it seemed to me last night, and he said it, that all his players were in pieces at the end of that game. So that means to me that they do care about losing, and you should.
“Winning Test matches is not an easy thing to do, and winning an Ashes Test is not easy. You don’t want to be giving good cricket teams opportunities back into a game of Ashes cricket when you’re in control of the game. England were in control of the game late on day one,” he said.
The second Ashes Test will start at the Lord’s on June 28, with Australia 1-0 up in the series.
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