Australia captain Ricky Ponting is optimistic his batsmen will be solve the spin puzzle ahead of bigger matches in a quest for winning a fourth successive World Cup.
“I think the more we play and the more we get accustomed to these conditions the better our performance will be against spin,” said Ponting, under whose captaincy Australia have not lost a match in the last two World Cups.
Defending champions Australia opened their campaign with a 91-run victory over Zimbabwe in a day-night match in Ahmedabad on Monday, but their performance against spin left a lot to be desired.
In-form opener Shane Watson (79) and Michael Clarke (58 not out) hit impressive half-centuries to guide Australia to 262-6, but most of the batsmen struggled to score freely against Zimbabwe’s slow bowlers.
Australia have been finding it difficult to dominate spin on low, slow pitches since they lost their opening warm-up game against India in Bangalore.
They face another spin test when they clash with trans-Tasman rivals New Zealand in their second match in Nagpur on Friday, with their opponents having quality spinners in Daniel Vettori and Nathan McCullum.
“We know that spin factor will be a big one in this tournament. We know these conditions and know how to play in India or Sri Lanka,” Ponting said after Australia’s 24th successive win in the World Cup. “We need to play better [against spin]. We need to be at the top of our game as the tournament progresses and I think are not there quite yet.”
Australia, who managed just 28 in the opening 10 overs against Zimbabwe, will need a brisk start from Watson and Brad Haddin against New Zealand, who may also open the attack with a spinner, like Zimbabwe.
Off-spinner McCullum did it in New Zealand’s crushing win over Kenya in Chennai on Sunday, giving away just 15 runs in his four overs.
“Hopefully, we can get off to a much better start next time and take pressure off the middle order,” said Watson, named man of the match against Zimbabwe.
The Australian skipper, who described the victory over Zimbabwe as “solid” rather than “spectacular,” had reasons to be satisfied with the performance of his pace trio of Mitchell Johnson, Shaun Tait and Brett Lee.
The pacemen bowled their hearts out to virtually reduce the match to a no-contest with their sharp performances as Zimbabwe were dismissed for 171. Johnson was the pick of the bowlers with 4-19 off 9.2 overs.
When asked what was the main feature of their pace attack, Ponting said: “The variations that we have in our attack. [Left-arm paceman] Johnson and Tait were more consistent.”
“Tait, with his slinging action, swings the new ball and reverses the old one, and this was probably one of the best spells I have seen Johnson bowl in one-day cricket,” Ponting said. “I thought Johnson was outstanding and Tait’s just working up to match fitness so to get eight or nine overs out of him was a real bonus. The attack has variations and the ability to break partnerships.”
SMASHING OUTCOME
The Australian captain, meanwhile, didn’t quite perform as well as he had expected.
A furious Ponting, who hit for 29 runs, took out his frustration at being run out by smashing a television set with his bat in the team’s dressing room.
The incident was reported to the sport’s governing body, but an International Cricket Council source said yesterday “it was unlikely the matter would be taken any further.”
Ponting was found short of his crease at the non-striking end by a direct throw from the mid-wicket boundary by the lanky Chris Mpofu while attempting a second run.
Ponting was seen talking angrily to himself as he walked back to the pavilion and it appeared his emotions spilled over once he was back in the dressing room, where he saw footage of his dismissal being replayed on TV.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but
Taiwanese gymnast Lee Chih-kai failed to secure an Olympic berth in the pommel horse following a second-place finish at the last qualifier in Doha on Friday, a performance that Lee and his coach called “unconvincing.” The Tokyo Olympics silver medalist finished runner-up in the final after scoring 6.6 for degree of difficulty and 8.800 for execution for a combined score of 15.400. That was just 0.100 short of Jordan’s Ahmad Abu Al Soud, who had qualified for the event in Paris before the Apparatus World Cup series in Qatar’s capital. After missing the final rounds in the first two of four qualifier