Aussies lift game to another level
By John Mehaffey
Guyana Chronicle
March 29, 2007
ST JOHN'S, Antigua (Reuters) - Australia lifted their game to another level yesterday with their best all-round bowling performance of the World Cup.
Disciplined pace and spin backed by the usual excellent fielding and abetted by the undisciplined batting of hosts West Indies completed a 103-run victory for the defending champions on the second day of their rain-interrupted Super Eight match.
"I think we are doing things pretty well," captain Ricky Ponting told a news conference after the second-stage victory. "I'm confident that we've got all bases covered."
New Zealand twice chased down totals in excess of 300 during their 3-0 win in the Chappell-Hadlee tri-series last month with the Australian bowlers losing their way badly towards the end.
The position worsened when bowler Brett Lee was injured before the tournament.
Yesterday, Lee's replacement Shaun Tait touched 153 kms an hour (95 miles an hour) in his fastest spells of the tournament.
Left-armer Nathan Bracken bowled an excellent opening stint and finished the day with one for 25 from his nine overs.
ACCURATE OVERS
Glenn McGrath moved to within one wicket of Pakistani Wasim Akram's World Cup record of 55 with three for 31 from eight naggingly accurate overs.
Left-arm wrist-spinner Brad Hogg took three for 56 from his 10 overs, including the wicket of opposition captain Brian Lara lbw 77.
"It's always good to bowl against the best in the world," Hogg said. "He misses, I hit."
Ponting said he was not concerned about the margin of Australia's victories in the tournament, including an 83-win over the world number one side South Africa last Saturday.
"I am not worried at all that we haven't had a close game," he said. "We have played excellent cricket since the moment we first came here.
"We have set very high standards for ourselves. Each game has just got better and better. We have played very well and the fact that we haven't had a close game is a reflection of that."
Man-of-the-match Matthew Hayden, who scored 158 out of 322 for six after fighting his way back into the one-day side following 11 months in exile, said getting into the Australian team was never meant to be easy.
"It's a special side," he said. "There are (talented) guys who are here who are not in the side. That's the way the Australian side keeps its edge that we have to be so determined.”