Aussies need to show their class to fight back – Ponting

ADELAIDE, (Reuters) – Australia have the ability to   fight their way back into the Ashes series after their worst   defeat to England in nearly a quarter of a century — but they   need to start showing it, captain Ricky Ponting said today.
Ponting admitted England had outplayed the Australians in   the second test, which the tourists won by an innings and 71   runs to take a 1-0 lead in the series, but denied there was a   gulf in class between the two sides.
“It’s pretty simple, we need to win two of the next three   games if we want to win the Ashes but we’ve got to play a bit   better than we have the last test match and a half,” said   Ponting.
“It has just been execution that has let us down,” he   added. “It’s about dealing with pressure and, right at the   moment, England are certainly dealing with those situations   better than we are and we have to change that.
“And there is only one way you change that, and that is by   executing your skills well for long periods of time.”
Ponting said the time for talk was over and he expected   his players to spend the nine days before the third test in   Perth thinking about how they were going to improve.
“We’ve been talking a lot about how we’re going to change   things, how we’re going to rectify things, but our actions   have been letting us down so far,” he said.
“It’s a bad loss, a week off will do this team a world of   good, just to get away and have a think about what they need   to do as individuals, and what we need to do as a team, to   work our way back into the series.”
Opener Simon Katich will not play in Perth, and possibly   for the rest of the series, after injuring his Achilles but it   is the bowlers who will again be the major concern.
Australia’s bowlers have taken just six English wickets in   the last five days of test cricket over the first two tests at   the cost of 1,137 runs.
“We didn’t get many wickets in the second innings in   Brisbane and we didn’t get many here this week,” said Ponting.   “Once again I think it’s execution that let us down this week.
“I don’t think England have more firepower than we have,   they have just executed it better and the England batsmen have   put our guys under sustained pressure.”
Ponting, the most prolific test batsman at Adelaide, said   his own execution needed work after he got a golden duck and   nine in his two innings in his 150th test.
“Don’t worry about winning the games, I’ve got to make   some runs. Simple as that. To make nine runs in two innings   out there is nowhere near good enough,” he said. “My   expectations are a lot higher than that.”
The debate over the test team is bound to be intense over   the next week and Ponting said expectation for those who took   the pitch at the WACA on Dec. 16 would be high.
“Whatever 11 players are selected, I expect that they can   do the job for Australia. This week we haven’t done that,” he   said.
“It’s about finding the attitude, because I know the   ability’s there, to get that job done.”