England : Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting believes England`s success in their home World Cup may bode ill for Australia`s hopes of retaining the Ashes.
England knocked Australia out of the semi-finals with an emphatic eight-wicket win and another over New Zealand in Sunday`s final will see the hosts head into next month`s five-test Ashes series with significant momentum.
“It probably does, to be honest,” Ponting said, when asked whether England`s 50-over success could spill over.
“The country will be on a bit of a wave and a bit of a high, the players will certainly be on a huge high after that World Cup.
“But who knows if they don`t (win), it might have an adverse effect on their Ashes campaign as well.
“You can take lots of things from different series.
“It`s a completely different series going into an Ashes and there will be quite a few different players in their Test team than will be in this one-day team. They`ll have different captains as well.
“But I`m sure if they happen to win the World Cup, they`ll take as much as they can from it going into the Ashes.”
Australia hold the urn after thrashing England 4-0 on home soil in the 2017-18 Ashes.
The first Ashes test starts at Edgbaston on August 1.
Ponting, hired as an assistant coach to Justin Langer for Australia`s World Cup campaign, watched Aaron Finch`s side fall to South Africa and England in successive matches to bow out of the tournament after they had been the first side to book their place in the semi-finals.
Injuries did not help Australia`s cause and Ponting was not prepared to wear the blame for the side`s tactical preparations.
“Tactically, I think we got things right. Personnel-wise, we picked the best team that we could for every game,” Ponting told Cricket Australia`s website (cricket.com.au).
“Unusually for Australian teams in World Cups, we played our worst cricket in the most critical moments.
“That`ll be the thing that gets spoken about the most and see if there`s any reason behind it.”
