Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting trolled former England batter Kevin Pietersen during the lunch break on the fourth day of the first Ashes 2023 Test match in Birmingham. The incident happened when the two were discussing former England captain Joe Root‘s knock in a mid-break show for host broadcaster Sky Sports Cricket in the presence of former England batter Ian Ward as host.
Advertisement
Absolutely fanboying over Root, Pietersen was wax lyrical of the right-handed batter highlighting how Australia had no clue to put curbs around him in the morning session. Having faced five deliveries without scoring a run on a rain-affected Day 3, Root resumed the English innings alongside vice-captain Ollie Pope today.
It was only on the fifth delivery of the day that Root hit Australia pacer Scott Boland for a glorious boundary between mid-wicket and mid-on. With wicket-keeper Alex Carey keeping up to the stumps, what followed was Root reverse-ramping Boland twice in a row for a six and a four respectively. For the unversed, Root had played a similar shot against the same bowler for a six in the first innings as well.
Ricky Ponting Trolls Kevin Pietersen Regarding Joe Root’s Innings On Day 4
Readers must note that it didn’t just stop at that as Root hit two more boundaries off Boland’s next two overs. Despite his team in trouble, it was the right-handed batter’s all-attack approach which appeared to have impressed Pietersen the most.
“He [Joe Root] just owned the game. He ran the game. He was pure quality. He owned that space. They [Australia] were scratching their head saying, ‘What do we do?’.”
Perhaps a bit irked by Pietersen pointing towards him while referring to Australia, Ponting was in no mood to let go of an opportunity to give it back to the former in style. Ponting, who neither used any objectionable word nor spoke at length in an edited video doing the rounds on social media platform Twitter, just pointed out the fact that Root was dismissed for a below par score.
“He’s out now. He got 40 [46].”
Root, who hadn’t hit a boundary for more than six overs at the time of his dismissal, got out in his attempt to be doing the same. Wanting to hit Australia spinner Nathan Lyon on the leg-side, Root completely missed the ball after stepping out of his crease. In what was a simple stumping chance, Carey didn’t err behind the stumps to send Root back to the pavilion.
Joe Root Hits 5 Sixes In A Test Match For The Second Time
Although he is one of the best batters of this era, Root is definitely not known as a six-hitting machine. However, result-oriented attempts of adjusting to Bazball has seen him hitting as many as five sixes in the ongoing match.
In what is only the second instance of the 32-year old player hitting five or more sixes in a Test, it is noteworthy that the first one had also come this year only.
Root, who had started this match with 36 Test sixes under his belt, has now surpassed former England batter Ian Bell (39) with 41 sixes to his name. Another six in this format will see Root equaling former batter Marcus Trescothick (42) among English batters.
