Thaindian News

London, Aug. 24 (ANI): Australian captain Ricky Ponting has cranked up the Ashes war by taunting England about not being the “real Poms”.Taking aim at Irish-born batter Eoin Morgan and the rest of England’s foreign legion, Ponting said a repeat of the 5-0 whitewash that England suffered four years ago was “absolutely possible”.

He could not resist taking a swipe at England’s team of nations.

Kevin Pietersen and Jonathan Trott were both born and raised in South Africa. Matt Prior arrived in England from South Africa at the age of 12 and even captain Andrew Strauss was born in Johannesburg.

“Test cricket is a lot different to one-dayers. I think one of the reasons England are playing Morgan is his attitude and the way he goes about things - but he hasn’t been tested against us yet. I’ve a feeling England really like Morgan and what he brings to their set-up - plus he’s not English,” The Sun quoted Ponting, as saying.

“I have a lot of thoughts on why they pick those guys - the non-England-born players. But it doesn’t matter where they were born. We must make sure that, whatever team England put out, we are well-equipped to break them down,” he added.

“If you look at the last Ashes series in Australia, England’s wheels fell off really quickly. They didn’t handle it last time and there’s no doubt there’ll be more pressure on them in this series than probably ever before,” Ponting said. (ANI)