England all-rounder Ben Stokes.
Ben Stokes has struggled with both bat and ball so far this Ashes (Picture: Getty)

Australia legend Ricky Ponting has pinpointed why England all-rounder Ben Stokes has struggled in the Ashes series so far. 

Stokes returned to international cricket for the series Down Under after spending several months away from the sport to focus on his mental health.

While many expected him to pick up where he left off before his break, the star all-rounder has toiled alongside the rest of England teammates throughout the first three Tests of the series. 

The 30-year-old has failed to score more than 35 in any of his five completed innings with the bat and has only picked up three wickets with the ball so far. 

And former Australia captain Ponting believes that Stokes must change his approach if he wants to step up and lead from the front.

‘He’s looked ultra defensive. He hasn’t looked like the big, physically aggressive presence at the crease that opposition teams have feared to bowl to in other series,’ Ponting told cricket.com.au.

Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting.
Ricky Ponting wants Stokes to be more aggressive (Picture: Getty)

‘You can understand why – the batting conditions haven’t been easy in any game and he’s coming up against some good bowlers.

‘But I think if you just sit back and wait, and don’t put pressure on great bowlers, they’re going to get you out. We always used to say in teams that I played in that the better the bowler, the more risks you had to take as a batter, because you simply don’t get bad balls.

‘You have got to find a way to jump on anything that’s a little bit bad, rotate the strike as much as you can.

‘He’s probably going into the game knowing that it’s so important that he scores runs in that number five slot that he might be trying a little bit too hard.

‘The bottom line with it is that technically he might be their second-best player, so you can’t keep pushing him down the list when you’re batting guys with inferior techniques ahead of him.

‘And if you look at everyone outside of Joe Root then I would say that technically he is their second-best player.

‘If your leaders aren’t going to do it, then you can’t expect the younger guys to get the job done.

‘The young guys are going to learn from the senior players and when the senior players are setting examples like that, you can understand why some of the younger guys are making mistakes as well.’

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