Ricky Ponting: “I honestly think that Australia will win really easily”

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Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting is predicting that the Baggy Greens will crush England 4-0 in the upcoming Ashes series, which begins on November 23 in Brisbane.

Ponting attributed his prediction to England’s unstable batting line-up, the absence of all-rounder Ben Stokes and the fact that the pace duo of James Anderson and Stuart Broad are in “steady decline”.

The 42-year-old added that England’s best chance of beating Australia will come during the day-night Test match in Adelaide.

“I’ve been a bit more outward than normal about this one because I honestly think that Australia will win really easily,” Ponting told cricket.com.au. “If you look through the current England team, they’re searching for an opener, they’re searching for a No 3, Stokes might not be there, a couple of their quicks have gone down.

“I just think right now England have got more gaps and more cause for concern than Australia, not only in their XI but in their entire squad.

“James Anderson and Stuart Broad, as good as they’ve been over the years, I think they’re on a steady decline. They’re not going to get better from here as cricketers, [though] they’re hanging on to a reasonably high level of performance.

“Then you match it up against what we’ve got (Mitchell) Starc, (Pat) Cummins and (Josh) Hazlewood who are skyrocketing – those guys are on the up.

“I’m pretty confident that we’ve got a group of guys there who are going to make it really hard for England to win a game.

“My prediction is that I think it will be 4-0 Australia, and I think the best chance that England have got will be in Adelaide where a night game, pink ball, the night time conditions will suit Anderson and Broad down to the ground. If if they don’t win that one, I can’t see them winning one.”