Ponting eyes English weaknesses for Ashes 2010-11

Australia captain Ricky Ponting has pointed to England’s batting as their possible weak link that the Aussie’s will be looking to exploit. Ponting went as far as to name names to point out where the English side could possibly have problems, with Paul Collingwood, Kevin Pietersen and Alistair Cook all being mentioned, Ponting said, “Kevin Pietersen, obviously, is a big question mark for them at the moment. Alastair Cook is just holding on to his spot by the skin of his teeth, and [Paul] Collingwood has probably not had the best Test summer of his life either. They will be a little nervous when they arrive in Australia.”



Pietersen and the Ashes odds will have been expecting the Aussie’s to start firing the verbal grenades at him after the year he has had. It’s been over a year and a half since Pietersen last hit a Test century and he only averaged a meagre 27.25 in the recent series win over Pakistan. The batsman’s lack of form, led him to being dropped from England’s one day side, forcing Pietersen to get some time at the crease in a brief spell in South Africa with the Kwa-Zulu Natal Dolphins. Again Pietersen found runs hard to come by, although he made it clear he was feeling confident again and was ready for the Ashes.

Opener Cook came pretty close to losing his England spot in the summer after an disappointing season at the top of the order. His timely 110 against Pakistan saved him for the time being but the pressure will still be on Cook to prove it wasn’t just a one-off. Cook will be looking to add to his solitary century against the Aussie’s, which came at Perth in the 2006/07 tour.

Collingwood’s lack of form has come fairly under the radar with England’s success this year. The usually consistent all-rounder has scored five or less in his last six international innings and will need to improve on that in the warm-up games before the opening Brisbane Test on November 25th.

Those who regularly place a cricket free bet note that Collingwood is lucky that his decent bowling and exceptional fielding give him more wiggle room than the rest of his team-mates.

With Ian Bell back from injury and Eoin Morgan keen to keep his Test place, the England batsmen will need to be on their top form if they are to make the starting 11 for the opening Test.

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