Bazball left Australian players, coaches and the captain scratching their head at different times, says Ricky Ponting

Hobart, Aug 18 (IANS) Former captain Ricky Ponting believes that the entire Australia side was left "scratching their head" over how to counter England’s Bazball style of play as the Ashes series progressed, adding that the 2-2 scoreline was a fair result.

Australia were 2-0 up in the Ashes with thrilling wins at Edgbaston and Lord’s. But the Ben Stokes-led England team bounced back by winning at Headingley and despite being in control of the game at Manchester, rain enabled a draw, meaning Australia retained the Ashes.

Australia’s chance of winning the Ashes series for the first time since 2001 ended when England won by 49 runs at The Oval, especially after a ball change brought bowlers back into the game, with the series ending at 2-2.

"The two contrasting styles of play were great to sit back and watch. There was a lot of talk about Bazball and how England would approach it, and would that style stand up against the quality of the Australian attack -- looking back, it probably did. It probably had some of the Australian players, coaches and the captain at different times scratching their head as to how they were going to combat it."

"Think the 2-2 result, albeit probably slightly biased with a bit of controversy in that last Test with the ball changed the way that it was, that gifted England some conditions they probably shouldn't have got, think the level of cricket played across the series, the 2-2 result was probably fair," said Ponting on SEN Radio.

Ponting pointed out that England's aggression with the bat played a key role in their fightback in the Ashes while lavishing huge praise on opener Zak Crawley. 

"It was more their top-order batting, I think, we struggled to come to grips with. The way that Crawley and Duckett were able to play at the start of every inning, really, they got England off to flying starts and put pressure straight back on the Australian attack."

"When that momentum started to build it was hard for the Australians to rein it back in. Zak Crawley has got to take a lot of credit, he was the one going into the series who was under the most pressure. That 180 he got at Manchester was as good a Test match batting as you could see…as I said it had (Pat Cummins) and the boys scratching their heads as to how they were going to bowl at him.”

Ponting also lauded captain Cummins' resolve to play six Tests, including the World Test Championship final against India, and feels some fresh faces could be introduced in the Test bowling attack over the next 12 months.

"As the series wore on, Cummo was probably the pick again, but Starcy was outstanding. There were some questions about whether Pat could get through those six Tests and keep his intensity up; there might have been a bit of a flat spot when he was under a bit of attack at Manchester but the way he bounced back in the last Test, his pace at the start of the last Test was the best it's been for a long time, so he kept coming."

"As it went on, felt to me like they could have brought (Michael) Neser in at some stage in the right conditions. But I think what they did selection-wise was right. We know there is enough (depth) underneath these guys, (Lance) Morris and those guys sitting back in the wings. Think we've got enough there and at different times I reckon through the next 12 months we might see some different faces in our bowling line-up," he concluded.