Leeds: Elated Australia captain Ricky Ponting said his side had been “unbelievable” after thrashing England by an innings and 80 runs to win the fourth Test here on Sunday and level the Ashes at 1-1.
Victory inside three days at Headingley saw Australia revive their bid to retain the Ashes in emphatic style and set-up a winner takes-all-clash at the Oval, where the fifth and final Test starts on August 20.
“I said right through the series if we could get early wickets and get the middle-order in there against the new ball we could do some damage and we did it twice,” Ponting told reporters after Australia won with more than two days to spare.
“You can’t ask for anything more,” Ponting added. “We couldn’t have done anything better. We had an unbelievable game.”
Ponting hailed the first day display of Stuart Clark, which inspired the rest of the four-man attack after Australia decided to drop off-spinner Nathan Hauritz.
“Stuart Clark has a real calm experienced head on his shoulders. We all know Stuart is capable and it gave us the opportunity for Siddle and Johnson to operate in short bursts.”
Ponting is desperate not to become the first Australia captain in over a century to lose two Ashes series in England after being on the wrong end of a 2-1 loss four years ago.
“This is the chance I’ve been waiting for the whole tour. I said from start how much it would mean to me to win this one,” Ponting said.
Little went right for England even before the game started with an early morning fire alarm at their hotel waking up the players before 0930 IST on Friday.
Then, after taking the difficult decision to drop Flintoff and replace him with a fast bowler in Stephen Harmison, rather than a batsman in the uncapped Jonathan Trott, England suffered fresh disruption during the warm-up when wicket-keeper Matt Prior had a back spasm.
That led to a toss delay but England captain and opener Andrew Strauss, who opted to bat first, said, “If we use that as an excuse we are barking up the wrong tree. The first session was an awful session and from there it was hard to get back in the game.
“ We need to learn lessons and make sure we don't make the same mistakes again. As a team, we’ve always come back well after performing badly.”
But, looking ahead, Strauss insisted: “It’s a time to be calm and not to panic — if we win at the Oval we win the series.”
He added: “We didn’t really turn up but we have to take it on the chin. We’ve been scratching our head as to why.”
As for Flintoff’s Oval prospects, Strauss said: “If he’s going to play, he’s got to be fit to play his role as an all-rounder, not 28 overs a day but fit to bowl more than one spell.”
Ponting, asked if England could win at the Oval without Flintoff, said, “They can without him but they will find it more difficult.”
“It will be difficult for England to bounce back. Some of our guys who have been struggling for touch are now in the best form of their career. Everything is heading in the right direction for us at the best moment of the tour,” Ponting said. (AFP)
