Ricky Ponting slams Ollie Robinson over his Ashes outburst at Usman Khawaja during first Test

Former Australian captain Ricky Ponting has put new Ashes villain Ollie Robinson in the gun, labelling the bowler a ‘slow learner’ for his failed efforts to unsettle Usman Khawaja in the opening Test at Edgbaston.

Ponting also declared England had ‘more questions to answer than Australia‘ going into the second Test at Lord’s and said he ‘won’t cop’ their talk about entertaining and playing positive cricket being as important as winning.

Robinson singled out Ponting for his own sledging during Ashes series when defending the send-off he gave man-of-the-match Khawaja when he dismissed him in the first innings after the Aussie opener had made a mammoth 141 runs.

Ponting said it was ‘water off a duck’s back’ for himself, but it came back to haunt Robinson, who couldn’t help his team dismiss the Australians on the final day as they went on to record an unforgettable win.

‘As I said after Ollie Robinson said what he said, this England cricket team hasn’t played against Australia and they’ll find out pretty quickly what playing Ashes cricket and playing against a good Australian cricket team is all about,’ Ponting told The ICC Review podcast.

Ricky Ponting (pictured) said Ollie Robinson’s remarks about him were ‘water off a duck’s back’

Ollie Robinson singled out Ponting for his own sledging during Ashes series when defending the send-off he gave man-of-the-match Khawaja when he dismissed him in the first innings

‘And if Ollie Robinson hasn’t learned that already after last week, then he’s a slow learner.

‘Some of the things he had to say – I mean he even brought my name into it, which I felt was a little bit unusual, but for me it’s water off a duck’s back. If he is sitting back thinking about me, then no wonder he bowled like the way that he did in that game if he’s worried about what I did 15 years ago.

‘He’ll learn pretty quickly that if you’re going to talk to Australian cricketers in an Ashes series, then you want to be able to back it up with your skills.’

Ponting singled out England keeper Jonny Bairstow for having an ‘ordinary game’ in Birmingham as one of the main reasons England lost.

He said going into the second Test 1-0 down in the series would be the biggest test of England’s all-out attack style of play.

‘As far as I’m concerned now, England have more questions to answer than Australia,’ Ponting said.

‘On their style of play but also now looking at that first Test, they’ve got some selection issues that they’re going to have to deal with as well.

‘Jonny Bairstow actually had a very ordinary game behind the stumps, there’s about four chances that he put down. And on flat wickets, if they want flat wickets, you cannot afford your keeper to be making mistakes.

Australian batter Usman Khawaja had the last laugh on Ashes ‘villain’ Ollie Robinson as the first Test went down to the wire at Edgbaston

Ponting said Robinson will learn that ‘if you’re going to talk to Australian cricketers in an Ashes series, then you want to be able to back it up with your skills’

‘If you look at those mistakes by themselves, some people might say those mistakes could have cost him the Test match. Those are things they have to answer. Whereas Australia, because they’ve won the game, they’ll have to answer a lot fewer questions.’

Ponting also questioned the notion that England was not results driven and put playing positive cricket above winning.

‘I don’t believe that for a second. This is an Ashes series, this is the biggest challenge that Ben Stokes has had in his career as a captain,’ Ponting noted.

‘I’m not copping that.

‘I mean, if they’re not results driven, they wouldn’t be disappointed at all about losing. And it seemed to me last night, and he said it, that all his players were in pieces at the end of that game. So that means to me that they do care about losing, and you should.’