'A four, five or six type': Ricky Ponting makes an astounding statement on English star

The English cricket team was finally able to break their 1391 days of winning an Ashes Test and defeated the Aussies in the third match by three wickets. Mark Wood was the star of the show and picked up a total of seven wickets and made 40 runs in the whole match. Apart from Wood, English skipper Ben Stokes played a knock of 80 runs in the first innings and took the team to a respectable total. 

3 things you need to know 

• English pacer Mark Wood finished Australia's first innings with figures of 5/34 
• English cricket team needed 251 runs to win the third Ashes 2023 Test 
• Australia lead the five-match Ashes 2023 series by 2-1

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Ricky Ponting makes a big statement on Harry Brook 

(English batter Harry Brook celebrates after completing his half-century in the 3rd Ashes 2023 Test / Image: AP)

Former Australian captain Ricky Ponting, while speaking on the ICC Review, doesn't think that Harry Brook can ever be a top-order batsman for England. Brook played a 75-run knock in the second innings of the third Ashes 2023 Test against Australia and played an important role in the hosts' chase. 

I'm not sure if Harry Brook is ever going to be a top-order Test match batsman. I think he's always going to be a four, five or six type batter with the way that he plays. 

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Ricky Ponting wants Ben Stokes to play at number three

I thought the opportunity was there for Ben because a lot of the time with Stokes and, you know this is no knock on him whatsoever as he's a terrific player, but a lot of the time he's got to come in and play a Mr Fix-It role when it's almost like a damage control sort of role where I've always felt that if he batted at No.3 then he could sort of stop some of that damage with the technique that he's got. 

The focus of the Ashes 2023 will now shift to Manchester, where the fourth Test match of the series will take place. The English cricket team will arrive on the ground with the intention to keep their hopes alive to regain the coveted 'urn' after a prolonged eight year gap.