Ponting predicts Australia's tough selection calls for Ashes

ICC Hall of Famer Ricky Ponting has revealed the tough selection calls Australia must make for the upcoming Ashes series and what England needs to do well to ensure they are competitive.

The focus of the cricket world will be on Australia from November 21 for the five-match Ashes series between the arch-rivals that will play a major role in shaping the ICC World Test Championship standings for the ongoing cycle.

While Australia will enter the series as favourites based purely on the fact they haven't lost a series on home soil since 2011 and have held on to the Ashes urn since 2018, England will travel Down Under full of confidence after they were able to draw the most recent series against the Aussies at home in 2023.

Ponting spoke in depth about the Ashes with host Sanjana Ganesan on the most recent episode of The ICC Review and the Australian great dissected a number of tough selection calls his former side must make ahead of the first Test in Perth.

Konstas v Labuschagne in head-to-head battle

Much of the pre-series chat in Australia surrounds the top of the hosts’ batting order and whether young gun Sam Konstas will retain his place in the XI despite an inconsistent start to his international career.

Ponting believes the toughest decision selectors face is whether to stick with Konstas, or recall experienced right-hander Marnus Labuschagne and partner him with Usman Khawaja at the top of Australia's batting order.

"We are in a really interesting little phase right now with the talk about the selections for this first Test match because it was well planned by Cricket Australia to have four Sheffield Shield games leading into the first Test,” Ponting began.

"Two of those games have been played already. Some guys have been standouts, other guys that are in the reckoning haven't really taken their opportunity to the maximum just yet.

"We know Sam Konstas has been the incumbent as he played the last series in the West Indies, but he's one that probably hasn't capitalised as much as he would have liked in those first two (domestic) games.

"These players have still got probably four innings to go before that Test team has to get picked and we'll have a bit of a clearer picture then.

"Marnus Labuschagne is the obvious one. Marnus, at his absolute best, is in Australia's best team every day of the week.

"But he hasn't been able to find his best form over the last couple of years. And it looks like now back at state level, he's starting to find it again. It is certainly starting to look that way and he is a lot more confident in scoring.

"I think he's made four centuries in his last six innings, so he's going well, even though there is still a long, long way out."

Webster must play if fit

Cameron Green is expected to line-up in Perth (fitness pending) and Ponting thinks fellow all-rounder Beau Webster should also be included provided he can feature at domestic level prior to the first Test.

Webster has been battling an ankle issue, but has proven invaluable for the Aussies since debuting last summer given his all-round talents with the bat, ball and in the field.

"Cameron Green is the other (unknown) one right now," Ponting said.

"He's actually pulled out of this one-day series (against India) with some stiffness in his side. Now we know that he hasn't bowled for a long time. And if he bowls or if he doesn't bowl, it could have a big impact on the way that the Australian batting lines up for the first Test. If he's 100 percent fit and ready to bowl properly in Perth, then they might think about the batting order being slightly different.

"Do they need Webster then at No.6, or has Webster done enough to keep himself in the side anyway. I'd like to think that he has, even if Green is bowling, he'll probably be on limited workload anyway, so I think Webster deserves to be in the side.

"So then it comes down to whether they want to back in the youth of Konstas at the start of a national series, or if the sheer weight of runs for Marnus is going to get him back into the team. If it does, I think he'll be in the team as an opening batter."

Fast start crucial for England

With Australian skipper Pat Cummins in doubt for the first Ashes Test due to a back injury, Ponting believes England will get a great chance to make a fast start in Perth.

"They will come here well prepared. They'll have a good team, I think, to compete in Australia," Ponting said.

"The ultra aggressive nature of the way they play, I think it's only ever been designed to stand up and beat Australia in Australia.

“That's the reason that they're playing this brand is they know that they'll have to play that way in Australia to win.

"Now they've only won four Test matches in Australia this century. So they are going to have to turn history on its head to win a series here.

"Australia will start favourites, you know, and what's said in the, what's said in the press and leading up doesn't matter one bit.

"It's what you, it's how you turn up and how you're ready to play for that first morning in Perth and that can sometimes dictate the way the whole series goes.

"You've to make sure you're ready for that first half an hour or first hour of the first Test match and try and sort of set the momentum in your favour there and then."

Pressure on Root to break duck

While England veteran Joe Root has achieved pretty much everything possible in Test cricket, one accolade that is still to escape him is that he is yet to make a Test century on Australian soil.

Ponting thinks there's every chance Root will break that duck during this Ashes series, although he knows it will be eating away at the right-hander during the lead-up.

"I think he's better equipped now as a player than ever," Ponting said.

"Other times he's come here to Australia, he's had one or two little technical issues that on the extra bouncy wickets, the Australian fast bowlers have been able to exploit.

"And I have watched the way that he's played over the last 12 or 18 months, it looks like he's worked really hard on taking those motive dismissals out of play.

"But you also know that little man that sits on your shoulder, he keeps telling you, you haven't done well here in the past and you haven't got 100 here.

"That's what it's a mental thing for him this series more than anything else. His game is magnificent at the moment. He's got to get over that over that little mental hurdle and get 100. And I actually think he will get that 100 this time around."

Pre-series banter

David Warner has already come out and joked that England will be playing for a moral victory during the Ashes, while former foe Stuart Broad labelled the Aussies the worst Australian side he has seen in years.

Ponting isn't surprised by the back-and-forth between the teams, but said much will be forgotten when the action begins on November 21.

"I'm surprised it's taken so long for Warner and Broad to have a crack back at each other. It normally happens a couple of months out before the first Ashes Test and this one's only a couple of weeks out," Ponting noted.

"Everyone will try and tell you that you know, it's just another game of cricket. Well ashes cricket It's just not just another game. It's different. It goes to a different level.

"There's more media speculation, there's more spotlight. We're talking more, I don't know how much we've talked ever about a selection of what is what we've got coming up with the Australian team.

"For the last couple of months, selection for the Ashes has been spoken about. And unusually this time around as well, I'm pretty sure that I can pick England's team for the first Test right now, where you can't actually pick Australia's.”

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