Former Australian captain Ricky Ponting has bashed at England for their rather forgettable loss in the Boxing Day Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) on Tuesday. The Joe Root led England team could only manage 185 runs in the first innings before getting all out for a mere 68 runs in the second as well. And, with this, England lost the match by an innings and 14 runs as Australia took a 3-0 lead and retained the urn.

“They’ve out-thought themselves with their selections for Brisbane, looking forward to Adelaide and then looking forward to the MCG,” Ponting told Channel Seven. “Pick your best team from the start and then see how far that group can take you. The fact that Anderson and Broad didn’t play in Brisbane is staggering. The fact that Joe Root didn’t bowl first in Brisbane was staggering. The fact that Mark Wood didn’t play in Adelaide was staggering. He looked like one of the most likely bowlers up in Brisbane.”

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However, apart from Mark Wood, Jack Leach was also a part of the Day-Night Test but was not in this one which was a big error on their part as spinners did well on that pitch. Meanwhile, the hosts got great help from Ollie Robinson’s off-spin and Dawid Malan’s part-time leg-breaks and they both troubled the visitors successfully. The fourth Ashes Test will be played in Sydney on 5th January as well.

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“All their planning, their thoughts and their structures have just been completely wrong, and it’s come back to bite them. There’s no good looking forward from Brisbane if you’re going to be one or two-nil down. And that’s what it was: they planned for Melbourne already being two-nil down, they’ve come here and been pantsed again. So, they’ve got some really, really deep thinking to do,” Ricky Ponting signed off.