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England have failed to impress: Ponting

The form of England’s pace attack and aging veterans puts even more pressure on skipper Joe Root

Test great Ricky Ponting made a bold prediction of a 4-0 Australian triumph before a ball of this summer's Magellan Ashes had been bowled, and the former skipper insists nothing from England across seven days of the series to date has persuaded him to change his mind.

A 10-wicket thrashing in Brisbane has been backed up by two difficult days for the tourists in Adelaide, leaving Joe Root's team staring down the barrel of a 2-0 series scoreline, with some even suggesting a third whitewash in their past four Ashes tours could then become a real possibility.

Having had the best of the conditions to start each Test match, England's pace attack has been found out by a ruthless Australian outfit and Ponting says it's a long way back for the visitors.

"England haven't done anything to impress me yet," Ponting told cricket.com.au.

"Everyone talked about how even the first Test was but it actually wasn't.

Day two wrap: Marsh leads Aussie charge

"Australia win by 10 wickets having lost the toss and the wicket was nowhere near like a Brisbane pitch. They got an England pitch for the first three days and they survived and held on because of the conditions.

"But as soon as they hardened up and got quicker England were found wanting and found wanting badly.

"The same thing here. They won the toss, they got the conditions that they wanted; a grassy pitch, overhead conditions.

"(Stuart) Broad and (James) Anderson, as good as they've been, they lacked that impact on the game.

"They continue to bowl well but they just haven't got the impact to knock over the best players right now and the guys behind them – (Chris) Woakes, (Jake) Ball up there in Brisbane, (Craig) Overton here – have been steady but not good enough.

"I said before the series 4-0 but I also said Adelaide was (England's) best chance of winning a game and if they're going to do that from here they're going to have to play some pretty good cricket."

Broad gets Handscomb ... and celebrates with gusto

The biggest concern for England is the form of their aging warriors, according to Ponting.

Spearhead Anderson has taken just three wickets in as many innings at 50.33, Broad is taking a wicket every 78 balls while ex-captain Alastair Cook has produced scores of 2, 7 and sits 11 not out at stumps on day two in Adelaide, with the team staring at a deficit of 413 runs.

Ponting says the struggles of England's senior players means the burden captain Root must bear has become that much bigger.

"They rely on too few and the few they rely on are past their best," he said.

"Alastair Cook has made 11,000 Test runs and (played) 140 games but having been there and done it, it's really hard to improve as a player.

"You're trying to hang on and maintain the standards you're used to for a long time but it gets harder and harder to do that.

"If you look at Cook's last 6-12 months he got 240 in a Test against the West Indies over there and that made his whole summer look a whole a lot better than it was.

"I think he's just hanging on and the other two (Broad Anderson) are the same.

"They're going to need to unearth something pretty special.

"The fact that (Ben) Stokes is not there is a huge hole in their side.

"A lot more pressure now comes back on Joe Root as the captain. He knows he now has to score huge runs for the rest of the series if they're going to be competitive.

"I said at the start there are a lot more chinks in their armour than I thought there was in ours."

Marsh silences critics with super 126no

One player who is at the top of his game is Australia's Shaun Marsh, who defied Anderson, Broad and co on his way to a maiden Ashes century on day two.

He finished unbeaten on 126 and clocked two fours and a towering six off three consecutive Broad deliveries to end Australia's innings on 8-442.

The knock reminded Ponting of a former teammate who could also take down an opposition line-up at will.

Party time as Marsh hits Broad for 4, 4, 6 in Adelaide

"He's a bit like Matthew Hayden when he's going," Ponting said. "He sort of stands quite tall, hits the ball harder than what it looks – the ball always just seems like it flies off his bat.

"That was the thing that stood out most to me in this innings; his defence was really solid but when he tried to play a shot it raced off the bat and raced through the field.

"Then you think about his whole career and you think 'Why couldn't we have seen this more often?'.

"I've been sitting up there with Geoff Boycott and he can't believe that someone who has made five hundreds in 25 games has been in and out of the team as much as he has.

"He's always been an enigma, Shaun, and to see him come back and play as well as he has now, hopefully it's the start of something that could go on for two or three or four years."

2017-18 International Fixtures

Magellan Ashes Series

Australia Test squad: Steve Smith (c), David Warner (vc), Cameron Bancroft, Usman Khawaja, Peter Handscomb, Shaun Marsh, Tim Paine (wk), Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins, Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood, Jackson Bird, Chadd Sayers.

England Test squad: Joe Root (c), James Anderson (vc), Moeen Ali, Jonny Bairstow, Jake Ball, Gary Ballance, Stuart Broad, Alastair Cook, Mason Crane, Tom Curran, Ben Foakes, Dawid Malan, Craig Overton, Ben Stokes, Mark Stoneman, James Vince, Chris Woakes.

First Test Australia won by 10 wickets. Scorecard

Second Test Adelaide Oval, December 2-6 (Day-Night). Tickets

Third Test WACA Ground, December 14-18. Tickets

Fourth Test MCG, December 26-30. Tickets

Fifth Test SCG, January 4-8 (Pink Test). Tickets

Gillette ODI Series v England

First ODI MCG, January 14. Tickets

Second ODI Gabba, January 19. Tickets

Third ODI SCG, January 21. Tickets

Fourth ODI Adelaide Oval, January 26. Tickets

Fifth ODI Perth Stadium, January 28. Tickets

Prime Minister's XI

PM's XI v England Manuka Oval, February 2. Tickets

Gillette T20 trans-Tasman Tri-Series

First T20I Australia v NZ, SCG, February 3. Tickets

Second T20I – Australia v England, Blundstone Arena, February 7. Tickets

Third T20I – Australia v England, MCG, February 10. Tickets

Fourth T20I – NZ v England, Wellington, February 14

Fifth T20I – NZ v Australia, Eden Park, February 16

Sixth T20I – NZ v England, Seddon Park, February 18

Final – TBC, Eden Park, February 21