Ashes 2017-18: Ricky Ponting urges Australia to try ‘even harder’ for 5-0 sweep

Ricky Ponting, the former Australian cricket team captain, has urged Steve Smith to try hard and aim for a 5-0 whitewash against an England cricket team that are scattered both on and off the field.

Former Australian skipper Ricky Ponting has urged Steve Smith’s team to try “even harder” for a 5-0 victory over England in the ongoing Ashes series, stating that this was the right situation given that their opposition are in a scattered state both on and off the field.

Ricky Ponting, who led Australia to a 5-0 Ashes whitewash in 2006-07, has said the Australian cricket team need a fair contribution from all the batsmen. (Getty Images)

While the visitors succumbed to a humiliating defeat in the first Test, they have also been hit hard of late regarding controversies involving Jonny Bairstow and all-rounder Ben Stokes. And Ponting, who had predicted that it would be tough for England to even win a single game in the five-match series, feels there’s no need to change his prediction following Australia’s 10-wicket win at The Gabba.

“It’s moments like this in series when you need to go even harder,” Ponting told cricket.com.au. “When you know that you’ve got an opposition down and there’s things going around their camp, that’s when you’ve got to be harder on yourself as a group of Australian players and make sure they don’t let them back into the series.”

It was under Ponting’s captaincy that Australia had swept a 5-0 victory to win the Ashes back in 2006-07. “I think back to 2006-07 here in Australia where we had a really good win here in Brisbane. We went to Adelaide, we didn’t get off to a good start down there, but we turned that around into a really positive win,” he added. “And once we won that game there, we knew that we’d broken them and we had to keep our foot on their throats and whitewash the series, which is what we did.”

While Ponting felt the bowling department had put up a decent show, he was a bit unhappy with the side’s batting performance despite a valiant ton from captain Steve Smith. “We can’t afford to rely on him (Smith) every game,” Ponting said. “He’s the No.1 batsman in the world and for all the right reasons, but we need a more even contribution from all of our batsman.”

Ponting further added that the sort of wickets that have been dished out should terrorize English batsmen and captain Joe Root who’s on his first Ashes tour. However, he reiterated the need to fix their own problems in order to emulate the 5-0 drubbing, and added: “I honestly think there’s a chance for this Australian team to do the same thing all over. If they pay attention to their own backyard and pay attention to detail and try and find ways to improve every game, I think they can win every game.”