Ponting: 'Lay off duo'

Australia captain Ricky Ponting has come to the defence of embattled England cricket coach Duncan Fletcher and skipper Andrew Flintoff, claiming the harassment they are suffering after losing the Ashes is "harsh".

Fletcher and Flintoff were grilled by the media the day after losing the urn, with journalists questioning all elements of the team's organisation - from the validity of their selection process to whether they should step down from their current roles. But Ponting empathised with the English pair.

"There are 11 guys in the team, or the 13 guys in the squad, and it is very harsh just to blame the coach and captain," he said.

"But I know, especially after last year, what it is like as a leader, as a captain of a side, that when you lose a lot of the flak will come back on you. They haven't played anywhere near as well as they would have liked but in saying that I think we haven't given them the opportunity to play as well as they would have liked."