Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting recently shared his views on who he thinks is the best No .4 batter in Tests. He was asked to choose between the greats of the game in a head-to-head format ahead of the Ashes series starting on Friday. His eventual pick did shock many fans. Ponting first picked Kevin Pietersen over Mahela Jayawardene. He again went with Pietersen when he was asked to choose between Pietersen and Mark Waugh. But when the comparison shifted to Javed Miandad, Ponting chose the former Pakistan star ahead of Pietersen. The former Australian captain then placed Steve Smith above Miandad. After that, he also picked Smith over West Indies legend Brian Lara and former South African all-rounder Jacques Kallis. Asked to choose between Steve Smith and Virat Kohli, Ponting again went for Smith. A comparison with Joe Root also went in Smith's favour. Ponting said, "Smith's average is obviously better, Root has got 13,500 runs. I'm gonna go with Steve Smith still." Finally, he was asked to choose between Steve Smith and Indian legend Sachin Tendulkar. Ponting decided to stay with his earlier choice and named Steve Smith as the best No.4 in Test cricket. Also Read | Former Aussie Legend fired from Ashes commentary panel for breaking moral laws Ponting Predicts a Close Ashes Series Ponting also gave his views on the forthcoming Ashes series between Australia and England. While Australia have been in possession of the Ashes since 2018 and have lost a mere four home Tests against England since 2000, he feels this year's Ashes will be pretty competitive. "I don't think there'll be any draws, just the way that England play." said Ponting. He added that weather was also a concern: "If there's reasonable weather through the Australian summer, we know that the biggest concern for the last 15 years has been Sydney with the amount of days we've lost there." Talking about the conditions for the series, he added, "Perth and Brisbane this time of year are normally great. So I don't foresee any drawn games and I just think it's going to be really, really close." He concluded by prophesying a narrow win for Australia, going on to say, "So I'm going 3-2 Australia."