Former Australia skipper Ricky Ponting has backed out of form batter Steve Smith.© AFP
After a below-par individual performance in the 2021-22 Ashes series, Steve Smith will be hoping to bounce back to good form and has received support from former Australia captain Ricky Ponting. The 32-year-old could only register 244 runs at an average of 30.50. Despite his poor form, other players stepped up and Australia cruised to a 4-0 win against England. Speaking to cricket.com.au, Ponting said, “The standards that he’d set himself for so long, for that three – or four-year period where he took batting to another level, to try and maintain that for four or five or six years no-one’s ever done it, and no-one will probably ever do it”.
“You’re going to have your ups and downs and if he’s averaging (in the thirties) in Australia on the back of a couple of lean years, most other batsmen would take that.”
Explaining why Smith’s poor form, Ponting stated, “I know what he’s like and he will look back at this even though Australia has won the series… he’ll look back at his own game and break it down and ask himself those questions as to why things haven’t worked out as much as he would have liked.”
“He will come up with the right answers because the best players are the best problem solvers, and if he has got a problem… then he’ll work it out pretty quickly.”
The legendary cricketer also pointed out that players like Marnus Labuschagne have been contributing which has reduced the pressure on Smith.
“The other interesting dynamic with (Smith) is the Marnus factor and even other guys that have come in and have dominated like he did”, he said.
“There are other guys that are helping out now.”
The Ashes series also saw Travis Head smack two centuries either side of a bout of Covid-19 and he also won the Player of the Series award. Meanwhile even Cameron Green received plenty of plaudits for his all-round abilities.
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