Ponting slams England as the worst-performing team he’s ever seen in Australia

Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting has delivered a scathing assessment of England after they lost the Ashes inside 12 days

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Root accepts England need wholesale changes after Ashes defeat

Australia legend Ricky Ponting believes the current England side is the worst he has ever seen make the trip Down Under.

England lost the Ashes inside 12 days, suffering comprehensive defeats in the first three Tests to leave Australia with an unassailable 3-0 lead in the series.

England’s batting has regularly collapsed, with Joe Root and Dawid Malan the only players to pass fifty in the series so far and just one total of over 250 in six innings.

Speaking to cricket.com.au, Ponting was scathing in his criticism of England and their batters, stating they are “simply not good enough”.

“I don’t think I’ve seen a worse-performing team in Australia than what I’ve seen over the last three games,” Ponting said.

“Some of the English top-order batters that I’ve seen in the last couple of tours, without giving names, there’s some techniques there that I just know are not going to stand up at Test level.

“In challenging conditions and world-class bowlers up against sub-standard techniques, then you get what happened [in the third Test at the MCG].

“The little swing dibbly-dobblers that are getting them out over there [in county cricket], they’re not facing that at Test level.

“They’re facing guys who can actually bowl. What I’ve seen with their batting, they’re just simply not good enough.”

Worryingly, captain Root insisted that the batters on show are the best England have to offer, stating: “I’d say that the best 18 players from the county game are definitely on this tour.

“There’s some very talented players within this squad and we have to find ways of upskilling ourselves and each other, and managing pressure points within the game better.

“Unfortunately, where the game is at in our country right now, the only place you can really learn that is in the hardest environment.

“For what is quite a young batting group, they’re having to learn out here. The environment that they’re coming from, it’s not readying them well enough for Test cricket.”