Not spectacular but a solid performance: Ponting
Hailing his team's performance in the inaugural World Cup match against Zimbabwe, Australia skipper Ricky Ponting termed defending champions' 91-run victory as a 'solid' show, even if not that spectacular.
- Press Trust of India
- Updated: February 22, 2011 01:47 PM IST
Hailing his team's performance in the inaugural World Cup match against Zimbabwe, Australia skipper Ricky Ponting termed defending champions' 91-run victory as a 'solid' show, even if not that spectacular.
"It was not a spectacular performance, but a solid one. We know we need to play better as we go along," said Ponting, who appeared in the mega-event for a record 40th time, yesterday.
Admitting that the batsmen needed to play better against slow bowling on the sub-continental tracks, Ponting, however, pointed out that Australia have done well in the past in these conditions.
"We were getting used to the conditions. I think they (Zimbabwe spin bowlers) did a reasonable job. We know these conditions and know how to play here in India or Sri Lanka.
"We know the spin factor is going to be a big one in this tournament. We need to play better as the tournament goes on. We are not quite there yet," said the 36-year-old Tasmanian, who is keen to lead Australia to their fifth Cup crown and fourth on the trot.
Ponting warned that his fast bowlers will trouble all the teams in the tournament as they have variety as well as pace.
"All the three bowlers we had today are different. Brett (Lee) is accurate, (Shaun) Tait bowls with a sling-arm action, moving the ball away with the new ball and then reversing the old. Mitchell Johnson swings the ball both ways. It was one of the best one-day performances by Mitchell," he said.
For Australia, Johnson grabbed 4-19 in 9.2 overs, which included two of the first four Zimbabwe wickets, and opener Shane Watson scored a solid 79.
Watson said he and Brad Haddin didn't start in a fashion they normally do, as the Zimbabweans were bowling well.
"They bowled well and at one end was spin. We knew if one of us bats long we could get to a good total," he said.
Zimbabwe skipper Elton Chigumbura, after being outplayed by the Aussies, said his team needed to improve batting as it lost too many wickets, too soon in the match.
"Batting was a problem for our side as we lost many wickets early. It would have been better to keep wickets in hand," said Chigumbura after the match.
The skipper, however, was quick to praise his bowlers and said that bowling and fielding were the two positives from the match, and they would like to carry that forward.
Even coach Allan Butcher expressed his happiness over the team's bowling and fielding but said, "We needed to bat better."
Butcher said the spinners did an excellent job and had the Australians thinking.