Ashes 2019 | David Warner needs to stay aggressive to overcome Stuart Broad's terror, asserts Ricky Ponting

08/16/2019

Former Australia skipper Ricky Ponting has a solid advice for David Warner, who has been struggling against Stuart Broad so far in the Ashes and has fallen to the right-arm quick three out of three times. Broad dismissed the left-handed opener twice in the Edgbaston Test and once again at Lord's.

The five-time Ashes winner and current assistant coach Ricky Ponting believes that Warner needs to accommodate to Broad’s plans and try to command the English spearhead with an aggressive approach. Ponting believes that Warner missed three chances to find the boundary rope in the 11 balls he faced from Broad before his dismissal on the 2nd day of the Lord's Test and they gave Broad an advantage over the batsman.

The ex-captain has adviced Warner to actively approach Broad's bowling and asked him to take those chances as they are crucial to the opener shifting the balance to his advantage, hence putting pressure on Broad.

"I think the thing that would disappoint Davey the most was the fact there were a few clear scoring opportunities that he missed," Ponting was quoted as saying by cricket.com.au.

"There were a few really wide ones that he would generally pounce on and cut, and there was a half volley that he got a thick outside edge on and went to backward point,” he added.

"If he puts those three balls away, it’s a totally different game. You’re off to a flyer and the pressure goes back onto the bowler.

"The ones that he missed out on were short and wide, which says to me that he wasn't as free in the mind as he should have been. He plays his best when he's playing the ball and hitting the ball hard. That's going to be the challenge for him; to free himself up in the mind, watch the ball and react accordingly,” the former skipper feels Warner should go for hitting the shots.

Ponting, who worked closely with Warner during the 2019 World Cup, also spoke about Broad's strategy of bowling which is mostly around the wicket and looking to swing the ball away from the left-handed opener. Ponting further suggested that Thursday's dismissal highlighted how Warner is too focused on resisting the delivery that could get him out, instead of looking punish the poor deliveries.

"I spoke to him before the series and he knew that was the way they were going to bowl to him," he said.

"People think he's just a stand-and-deliver batsman, but there's a lot more thought into it than that. He plans very well and the fact he's batting on off-stump (in an attempt to counter Broad's line of attack) shows he's thought a fair bit about it.

"The problem is, when you’re expecting a bowler to bowl a certain way to you, you tend to only look for that one delivery. He would have just been looking for something that was quite full, pitching on off stump and swinging away. Even the one that bowled him, it looked like he was expecting it to swing away from him. He missed it on the inside,” Ponting said about Warner.

"It's a hard thing to do to pick yourself up and just go and hit the ball. But that's what he's going to have to do and that's the way he plays his best.

"I'd be encouraging him, if he's going to get beaten, to get beaten on the outside of the bat, not back through the gate. Set up to hit down the ground and just react to it. I know that's what he works on anyway, but I think he just needs reinforcement on that.

"(Facing Broad) is something he can’t get away from, but he’s played enough to know how to get himself back into this series,” Ponting concluded.