Ashes 2025-26: ‘He’s selling himself short’ - Ponting criticises Brook’s struggles on Australian soil

Former Australian captain Ricky Ponting has urged England batter Harry Brook to adapt his approach when playing in Australia. Brook’s start to the ongoing Ashes series has reflected England’s overall campaign, with flashes of quality overshadowed by frustrating moments that have allowed Australia to regain the urn through an unassailable 3-0 series lead.

While Brook has scored more runs (173) than all of his teammates apart from top-ranked batter Joe Root, the right-hander has managed only one half-century in six innings. Several of his dismissals have also come at crucial junctures, halting England’s momentum. A long-time admirer of Brook, Ponting believes England’s No. 5 must adjust his game to Australian conditions or risk enduring further frustrating performances.

“Look, I love Harry Brook. He's one of the best players in the world to watch, but I think with some of his dismissals, he's almost selling himself a bit short on how good he is. He doesn't need to do some of the stuff that he's doing. And I guess, I'm sure it’s going to be frustrating for an English fan as well, or even some of his teammates. You know, he's had a chance to sit back and watch Joe Root go about his cricket for the last 15 years. And to be fair, this is no knock on Joe Root,” said Ponting in The ICC Review.

"Harry Brook's got every bit as much talent as Joe Root has. You see him trying to play little lap shots off Scott Boland against a yorker that could have easily knocked his middle and leg stump out of the ground when his team needed him to make a hundred and chase down 435,” he added.

Ponting believes Brook’s teammates and England’s coaching staff will be equally frustrated by the manner of his dismissals throughout the Ashes series so far.

"I'll be critical on that, but I don't think I'll be any more critical than what his teammates would be or what his coach would be, because they should be critical of those sort of mistakes, because it's those sort of things that have cost them this Ashes series. They probably won't admit it. They won't talk about it. They won't bring it up. They're very defiant with that sort of criticism,” said Ponting,

"They'll always come back and say, ‘oh, that's the way that we play and we encourage them to play their natural games’. But you can't do that in Australia and you can't do it against Australia because if you give them an opportunity, you give them an inch, they'll take a mile. And we've seen that right the way through the series,” he added.