Ricky Ponting has rubbished Joe Root’s suggestion of extending Test sessions to counter bad weather and slow over rates after rain robbed England of any chance of levelling the 2023 Ashes series at Old Trafford.
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Trailing 1-2, England were at pole position in Manchester after taking a 275-run lead in the first innings and reducing Australia to 214-5 in the second, but persistent rain prevented further play. Only 30 overs of play were possible on the fourth day of the Test while the final day was entirely washed out.
The first three days remained clear of any stoppages, but a total of 83 overs were sent down on day one and 79.1 the following day. With sanctions for maintaining a slow over-rate falling drastically following Australia opener Usman Khawaja’s intervention with the ICC, both teams struggled to keep up with the minimum number of overs on the first two days that saw no stoppages during the game.
Following the drawn Test, which helped Australia retain the urn for the fourth consecutive time, Root expressed his disappointment to BBC TMS and offered a solution to the slow over-rate issue in the format: “It doesn’t get dark here in England until 10 pm in the summer, why can’t we just play until we bowl the overs?
“There’s been a lot of chat about not bowling the overs. There are so many different ways of trying to find opportunities to get as much play in as possible. At every opportunity at every stage, you should be looking to find ways to get the Test on. We batted in worse conditions at Edgbaston, but that is cricket. You just want consistency in those conditions.”
Ponting was quick to suggest the ridiculousness of Root’s suggestions on The ICC Review, by saying that the laws of the game can’t be chosen to be altered by players as and when it suits them.
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“You can’t just choose to change the laws of the game whenever you want to,” Ponting said. “I’m sure there have been times when England have wanted to not get back out there and play themselves. I mean, that’s just a ridiculous thing to say.”
He went on to draw parallels with another Manchester Test from the 2013 Ashes when Australia had the third game in their grasp with England leading the series 2-0. Australia had set England a target of 332 and had them on the mat at 37-3 before rain quashed their hopes.
“It’s not like it’s the first time it [rain going against a Test] happened. I reckon there was the exact reverse of this happening in 2013 when Australia were pushing for a win and the last couple of days of one of those Test matches got washed out. So it’s not the first time. When you’re playing Test matches over five days, the weather will come into it at some stage.”
