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Ponting poise too much for New Zealand
Ricky Ponting played a captain's innings of 56 as Australia beat New Zealand by seven wickets in their ICC World Twenty20 warm-up match at the Oval.
- Agence France-Presse
- Updated: June 03, 2009 06:15 PM IST
Read Time: 3 min
London:
Australia, chasing 148 to win, wobbled at 26 for two after James Franklin struck twice in his first over.
But an expertly paced stand of 104 between Ponting and Michael Clarke, unbeaten on 49, helped Australia to victory with four balls to spare as they made it two wins out of two following Monday's defeat of Bangladesh.
Earlier, left-arm quick Mitchell Johnson took four wickets as Australia restricted New Zealand to 147 all out.
New Zealand lost openers Brendon McCullum and Jesse Ryder for a duck apiece and collapsed to 21 for five inside six overs before a stand of 71 between Scott Styris (42) and Peter McGlashan (49) revived the innings.
Johnson, though, finished with fine figures of four for 20 from four overs.
Australia coach Tim Nielsen was satisfied with his team's performance, telling reporters: "We are getting better, we are getting closer. There are still a couple of areas where we can improve.
"We still have a few overs that went for a few too many but the pleasing thing was to have them five for 21.
"Brett (Lee) and Mitchell almost put the game to sleep in the first five or six overs and then we batted sensibly, chased the runs down and we probably had plenty up our sleeve."
Australia saw Franklin remove Shane Watson and the big-hitting David Warner.
But Ponting, playing some typically stylish shots, steadied the ship and lofted New Zealand captain and left-arm spinner Daniel Vettori for six before meting out the same treatment to all-rounder Styris.
Ponting, one of the world's best batsmen in all forms of the game, went to fifty in 34 balls, including four fours to go with his pair of sixes.
But in sight of victory, he was caught by Jacob Oram off Vettori.
Australia made an ideal start after Vettori won the toss.
Fast bowler Lee had the dangerous McCullum caught behind after the batsman chased a wide ball while Ryder was out to Johnson's second ball, caught at long leg by Peter Siddle off a hook.
The Black Caps, who on Monday beat defending champions India at Lord's, were in dire straits at 21 for five off five overs when all-rounder Oram was run out without facing a ball.
However, the experienced Styris counter-attacked by lofting Siddle for a superb straight six into the Pavilion before driving him next ball for four.
But the stand was broken when Brisbane-born Stryris, like McCullum, chased a wide delivery and was caught by wicket-keeper Brad Haddin off Johnson.
His 42 had come in 28 balls with two sixes and six fours.
McGlashan kept the momentum going with two reverse swept four off Hauritz before falling to the off-spinner one short of his fifty when caught at long-off by David Hussey. He faced 35 balls with a six and six fours.
McGlashan's performance was all the more impressive as this was his first match against Australia.
"They got the result but there were definitely positives we could take out of it," McGlashan said.
"Our top-order has done reasonably well in warm-up games so for the lower order to get tested was probably a good thing long-term."
Reflecting on his own innings, McGlashan said: "I had nothing to lose.
"It was completely unexpected for me to be here. Mum and Dad had already booked tickets because my sister (Sara) is in the New Zealand women's team."
Ricky Ponting played a captain's innings of 56 as Australia beat New Zealand by seven wickets in their ICC World Twenty20 warm-up match at the Oval on Tuesday.Australia, chasing 148 to win, wobbled at 26 for two after James Franklin struck twice in his first over.
But an expertly paced stand of 104 between Ponting and Michael Clarke, unbeaten on 49, helped Australia to victory with four balls to spare as they made it two wins out of two following Monday's defeat of Bangladesh.
Earlier, left-arm quick Mitchell Johnson took four wickets as Australia restricted New Zealand to 147 all out.
New Zealand lost openers Brendon McCullum and Jesse Ryder for a duck apiece and collapsed to 21 for five inside six overs before a stand of 71 between Scott Styris (42) and Peter McGlashan (49) revived the innings.
Johnson, though, finished with fine figures of four for 20 from four overs.
Australia coach Tim Nielsen was satisfied with his team's performance, telling reporters: "We are getting better, we are getting closer. There are still a couple of areas where we can improve.
"We still have a few overs that went for a few too many but the pleasing thing was to have them five for 21.
"Brett (Lee) and Mitchell almost put the game to sleep in the first five or six overs and then we batted sensibly, chased the runs down and we probably had plenty up our sleeve."
Australia saw Franklin remove Shane Watson and the big-hitting David Warner.
But Ponting, playing some typically stylish shots, steadied the ship and lofted New Zealand captain and left-arm spinner Daniel Vettori for six before meting out the same treatment to all-rounder Styris.
Ponting, one of the world's best batsmen in all forms of the game, went to fifty in 34 balls, including four fours to go with his pair of sixes.
But in sight of victory, he was caught by Jacob Oram off Vettori.
Australia made an ideal start after Vettori won the toss.
Fast bowler Lee had the dangerous McCullum caught behind after the batsman chased a wide ball while Ryder was out to Johnson's second ball, caught at long leg by Peter Siddle off a hook.
The Black Caps, who on Monday beat defending champions India at Lord's, were in dire straits at 21 for five off five overs when all-rounder Oram was run out without facing a ball.
However, the experienced Styris counter-attacked by lofting Siddle for a superb straight six into the Pavilion before driving him next ball for four.
But the stand was broken when Brisbane-born Stryris, like McCullum, chased a wide delivery and was caught by wicket-keeper Brad Haddin off Johnson.
His 42 had come in 28 balls with two sixes and six fours.
McGlashan kept the momentum going with two reverse swept four off Hauritz before falling to the off-spinner one short of his fifty when caught at long-off by David Hussey. He faced 35 balls with a six and six fours.
McGlashan's performance was all the more impressive as this was his first match against Australia.
"They got the result but there were definitely positives we could take out of it," McGlashan said.
"Our top-order has done reasonably well in warm-up games so for the lower order to get tested was probably a good thing long-term."
Reflecting on his own innings, McGlashan said: "I had nothing to lose.
"It was completely unexpected for me to be here. Mum and Dad had already booked tickets because my sister (Sara) is in the New Zealand women's team."
Topics mentioned in this article
Cricket
Ricky Ponting
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