The Ashes argy-bargy today was not confined to the Gabba playing arena. Up in the Channel Nine commentary box, there was also some verbal how's-your-father as Shane Warne - and others along the way in the ABC radio booth - again took aim at Ricky Ponting's tactics.

Brought into the Nine attack at first change, after Michael Slater, Mark Nicholas and Richie Benaud had opened the bowling, Warne wasted no time in getting on to a pet subject: captaincy tactics, and in particular those of Ponting.

Egged on by Tony Greig, who asked him what he thought of Ponting's early field-placings and bowling changes, Warne could not resist the bait. The champion leg-spinner - promoted by some as the best captain Australia never had - called for plenty of "flair and imagination" from both Ponting and his opposite number Andrew Strauss in the coming months, saying the Ashes series needed positive leadership from the two men.

Then, before the drinks break in the opening session, as he spied just two Australian slips in place, and two fieldsmen in the deep behind square leg for the top-edged hook, Warne could barely contain his indignation.

''Alistair Cook often struggles on the drive early in his innings and can get an edge but we've got just two slips and two on the hook,'' Warne noted. The field placings did not make sense, he said. So much for the flair and imagination.

Warming to his theme - and with some provocation from Greig and his long-time sidekick Bill Lawry - Warne then described Ponting's tactics as 'weird'.

''The bowlers are banging it in short, but they should be trying to get the batsmen to drive,'' he said. ''To only have two slips for Alistair Cook in the first hour of play .... strange.''

Lawry then chipped in: ''I think Shane Warne's right. When the wicket's slow, you have to try to encourage the batsmen to drive. They might spoon a catch or get a leading edge.''

The comments were telling given that Warne had already made himself unpopular with the Australian skipper last month. Using his Twitter account during the second Test against India at Bangalore, Warne criticised the fields set by Ponting for off-spinner Nathan Hauritz.

Hauritz suffered heavy punishment as India chased 207 to win the Test, being taken for 22 runs from two overs, but watching the play unfold on television from Australia, Warne pointed the finger of blame at Ponting rather than Hauritz.

"How the hell can Hauritz bowl to this field??" Warne wrote on Twitter.

"Feeling for Hauritz, terrible !! What are these tactics? Sorry Ricky but what are you doing."

The pair later had a phone conversation to clear the air although it is believed Warne did not resile from his position.

In the middle session, after Kevin Pietersen's dismissal - caught by Ponting himself at second slip - the skipper installed a third slip for new batsman Paul Collingwood. In a vindication of Warne and Lawry's comments, Collingwood immediately snicked Peter Siddle straight to Marcus North in that third slip position for a regulation catch.

It is now apparent that Ponting's every move, and non-move, will be discussed and dissected this series.

The fact he has lost two Ashes series as captain - and his strategies have begun to be questioned by the likes of Warne - has meant that his leadership is under more pressure and scrutiny than ever.

Even late in the middle session, as Ian Bell started to go after Xavier Doherty, lofting the spinner over the infield, Ponting chose not to encourage that risky batting but to push the mid-off back 20 or 30 metres.

Commentating on Nine, Mark Taylor said he could not understand the reasoning behind such a defensive move. Surely the idea was to encourage Bell to continue to hit out, and get him to hopefully play a false shot, rather than to contain him. Fellow-commentator Mark Nicholas immediately joined in the condemnation of the safety-first move.

Over on ABC radio, Peter Roebuck and Jon Agnew watched in dismay later in the day as Ponting put eight fieldsmen on the boundary when Bell was in his 60s and batting with No.10 Jimmy Anderson, gifting the little right-hander a single at will. ''It's an initiative that is so deflating for the team,'' Roebuck observed.

And all this on a day when the Australians performed brilliantly, restricting the opposition to 260 on a good batting deck. Imagine the outcry from his detractors when England score 360.

So this is Ponting's lot in this series. Not only will he again carry the burden of being the team's No.1 batsman, he'll have his captaincy scrutinised like never before in this long and arduous campaign.