'I don't think I've seen a worse-performing team in Australia': Ricky Ponting slams Joe Root-led England

Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting has slammed England for their disappointing show in the ongoing Ashes 2021-22. England have suffered three back-to-back defeats in the first three matches of to go down 3-0 and concede the five-match series. England lost the third Test against the Aussies by an innings and 14 runs on Tuesday (December 28).

Australian bowlers ran riot against Root & Co. in their second innings of the third Test - a Boxing Day affair at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) in Melbourne. England were bundled out for a paltry 68 to suffer a crushing defeat by an innings as they lost their 12th consecutive Test match at the MCG.

Reacting to England's horror run in the ongoing Ashes, Ponting labelled Root & Co. the worst team to have ever played Down Under. Ponting pointed out how Australia used to struggle in a similar fashion in England a few years back but managed to spark a turnaround by adapting to the English conditions by bringing a change.

"I don't think I've seen a worse-performing team in Australia than what I've seen over the last three games. We've been through this in Australia. You wind the clock back a few years ago when we had our struggles in England, we changed conditions, we changed the ball, we changed everything because we were poor in those conditions. England might need to have a look at how they can make their conditions more suitable to ours," Ponting told cricket.com.au.

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The England batters have failed to perform consistently in the ongoing Ashes 2021-22. Barring skipper Root, none of the England batsmen have so far managed to showcase some fight against the Aussie bowlers. Ponting believes some of England's top-order batters from the ongoing tour and the past few tours have not had the technique to last in Test cricket while playing in difficult conditions.

"Some of the English top-order batters that I've seen in the last couple of tours, without giving names, there's some techniques there that I just know are not going to stand up at Test level. In challenging conditions and world-class bowlers up against sub-standard techniques, then you get what happened today at the MCG. The little swing dibbly-dobblers that are getting them out over there, they're not facing that at Test level," Ponting said.

England will be hoping to bounce back to winning ways in the fourth Test against Australia which gets underway from Wednesday (January 05) in Sydney. There are two games remaining in the Ashes 2021-22 and England will be hopeful of ending the series on a high with a win.