Former Australian captain Ricky Ponting has flayed England skipper Joe Root for not coming into the second Ashes Test with a plan other than to just bowl short and wait for Steve Smith and Co. to commit errors. Day 2 of the pink-ball Test saw the host batsmen frustrate England pace-bowling stalwarts James Anderson and Chris Broad, with Chris Woakes too receiving some rough treatment. Australia finally declared their innings at 473 for 9, and then reduced England to 17/2.

However, England, led by fighting unbeaten 39 and 27 by Dawid Malan and skipper Joe Root respectively in the first session on Day 3, had reached 79/2 to reduce the deficit to 394 runs. Ponting, who is also the coach of Indian Premier League (IPL) side Delhi Capitals, said on Saturday that, "Apart from the short-ball plan Stokes executed (on the first day), England didn't seem to have much of a plan after that. It was run in and bowl back-of-a-length and wait for the Aussies to make mistakes."