England must work Ponting over to win Ashes: Vivian Richards

ANTIGUA - England would need to target and work Australian cricket team captain Ricky Ponting over if they hope to retain The Ashes Down Under, said former West Indian great Sir Vivian Richards.

Describing Australia’s prowess on the cricket field as exaggerated, Richards said that while Australia are not trapped in the same downward spiral as the West Indies team of the mid-1970s; England would have to be at their best to retain the Ashes.

“It is a tough, tough place to play, and they have always produced tough cricketers. One of the secrets of playing against Australia is working the captain over. It’s like the Red Indians. They knew that if you killed the chief, you killed the spirit. When I captained the West Indies we tried to do that to every captain we played against, but particularly Allan Border,” Fox Sports quoted Richards, as saying.

“Malcolm Marshall had a plan for him, bowling a little short, and getting him to pop it up with a guy in his back pocket. Ricky Ponting is similar, a good batsman and a hard character, but maybe more than ever now that Australia have lost so many great players, like [Shane] Warne and [Glenn] McGrath, England need to target Ponting,” he added.

Richards was speaking at the Cedar Valley Golf Club in Antigua. (ANI)