The Ashes: Bazball or traditional cricket? How will England play in second innings of fifth Test? | Cricket News

Bazball or more circumspect cricket?

That was the question for Sky Sports’ Ricky Ponting as he looked ahead to how England may play in their second innings of the fifth and final Ashes Test at The Kia Oval.

Ben Stokes’ hosts will begin their second dig trailing Australia by 12 runs after the tourists made 295 all out in reply to England’s total of 283.

England suffered batting collapses of 3-11 and 4-28 on the opening day at The Oval, while Ponting also referenced how they batted aggressively and lost wickets in the series opener at Edgbaston as they missed the chance to bat Australia out of a game Pat Cummins’ men went on to edge by two wickets.

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Former Australia captain Ponting said: “I am intrigued to see how hard England go. They got bowled out at Edgbaston trying to set the game up early and gave Australia a sniff.

“Are they going to go hard again and chance those little collapses we saw on day one here or will it be a bit more circumspect? Will there be a mixture of out-and-out Bazball and traditional cricket?”

Sky Sports Cricket’s Mark Butcher added: “What I hope will happen is that they will go out with that intent but then recognise periods in the game when they might have to sit in.

“If they do that and have a number in mind they want to defend, then get there however you feel best to get there. Don’t go against your attacking instincts but be smart.”

Dinesh Karthik added: “I don’t think England have a bone in their body that is going to make them score any less quickly than they have done, but they should bat at least 80, 85 overs – for their own good so that they score 350 but also so the bowlers get some rest.”

Ponting: Australia did not apply enough pressure

Australia slipped from 115-2 to 185-7 on day two before adding 110 for their final three wickets as top-scorer Steve Smith (71) put on 54 with skipper Pat Cummins (35), who notched a further 49 in partnership with Todd Murphy (34).

Ponting says Murphy and Cummins “got Australia out of jail” but feels his countrymen will be frustrated they were not able to foster a larger lead and thinks they were too defensive while adding just 54 runs in the morning session.

Ponting said: “I think Australia will be disappointed, to be honest. Smith talked about how good the wicket was. There was swing but that’s part of playing Test cricket in England.

I think we bowled really well in that first session. I was surprised Australia didn’t try something – walk at us, put us off our lengths, do something different.

“England did bowl really well this morning but I don’t think there was enough pressure put back on them. Australia have been lucky to escape and get out of jail a bit with the late runs from Cummins and Murphy at the end.”

Smith added: “You look at the scorecards and they are similar. A lot of us got in and had good starts but were not able to go on with it.

“There was no set plan [to grind it out with the bat]. We talked about the batters playing what they saw in front of them.

“You want to keep the scoreboard ticking as much as possible but guys are allowed to bowl well. You have to respect those periods at times. England did not give us lots of freebies.

“One positive out of the game so far is we have put more overs into their bowlers than the 50-odd ours bowled.”

On how Australia will now approach things with the ball, Smith said: “As the game goes on it will be about bowling straighter lines, potentially.

“As much as we can we just need to challenge their defence and make them play big shots off good balls. It’s very simple, standard stuff.”

Watch day three of the fifth Ashes Test live on Sky Sports Cricket on Saturday. Build-up starts at 10.15am with the first ball at 11am. Stream The Ashes and more with NOW.