London, July 13 (Inditop.com) Ricky Ponting accused England of lack of cricketing spirit with their cynical time-wasting tactics to cling on for a first-Test draw in the Ashes, but his England counterpart Andrew Strauss refuted the claim saying his team’s intentions were good and not deliberate.
A furious Ponting flayed England’s move to send physiotherapist Steve McCaig and an acting 12th man onto the field with gloves for tailender Jimmy Anderson as he and No. 11 Monty Panesar batted out a tense draw.
Ponting was quoted in the Australian media as saying with time ticking down and only seven minutes left, it was a clear delaying tactic that Ponting claimed was “pretty ordinary” and not in the spirit of the game.
“I didn’t see him (Anderson) call for any physio to come out on the ground … as far as I’m concerned it was pretty ordinary actually,” Ponting insisted.
“I think he changed his glove the over before. I’m not sure if his gloves were going to be too sweaty in one over?”
“But they can play whatever way they want to play. We came to play by the rules and the spirit of the game, it’s up to them to do what they want to do.
“There was nothing there that we could do out on the ground. We had to get them off as quick as we could and get a couple more overs.
“I was unhappy with it, but it lasted a couple of minutes and we got them off the ground.”
Strauss claimed Anderson’s gloves needed to be changed because he had spilt drinks on them in a drinks break.
“We first of all sent the 12th man out just to let Jimmy and Monty know about the fact there was time left rather than just the overs,” Strauss said.
“Then there was drink spilt on his glove and Jimmy called up to the dressing room. We weren’t sure whether he needed the 12th man or the physio. There was a lot of confusion, to be honest.
“Our intentions were good. I don’t think we were deliberately trying to waste a huge amount of time, that wasn’t our tactic.
“Those two were playing pretty well out there in the middle. The reality of the situation is that Australia didn’t take that final wicket.”
rounak