PONTING DELIVERS STOKES WARNING

RICKY PONTING believes Ben Stokes’s plea for ‘fast, flat’ pitches could rebound on England as they seek to win the Ashes for the first time since 2015. As Australia maintained control of the World Test Championship final against India, their former captain suggested England’s seamers might be grateful for lively surfaces instead. Ponting, who played the last of his 168 Tests in 2012-13 and scored 13,378 Test runs — second only to Sachin Tendulkar — said Bazball had been refreshing, and praised England’s ‘win-at-all-cost mentality’. But he added: ‘I’m intrigued to see what sort of conditions England want for that style of cricket. If they have the flatter wickets with the smaller boundaries, it might just backfire on the bowling group.

‘Broad, Anderson and Robinson are going to want pitches that offer them something. If they don’t, let’s see how they go against the Aussie batters.’ Out in the middle, those batters were being held together in their second innings by Marnus Labuschagne, who reached stumps on the third day of the WTC final on 41. Australia were 123 for four, an overall lead of 296. Opener Usman Khawaja followed his firstinnings duck with a loose drive off Umesh Yadav and was caught behind for 13. That came after David Warner had fallen for a single, caught behind as he chased some width from Mohammed Siraj. The biggest surprise came when Steve Smith skyed a horrible slog off left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja to cover for 34. When first-innings centurion Travis Head provided Jadeja with a return catch on 18, Australia were 111 for four. A first-innings lead of 173 meant their carelessness barely mattered, though they had also been scrappy in the field. After Scott Boland bowled Srikar Bharat with the morning’s second delivery, Australia put down two slip catches and were deprived of a wicket by a Pat Cummins no-ball — Shardul Thakur, who had been given lbw on 36. Cameron Green held a catch in the gully to get rid of Ajinkya Rahane for 89, and Green helped mop up the tail. India need something special to win from here.