Ponting: angry after defeat © Getty Images Enlarge

Australia's captain, Ricky Ponting, admitted he was "angry" after his side's failure to protect a massive total of 342 against Somerset at Taunton.

Ponting, who made 80 before retiring to allow his team-mates a bat, accused his bowlers of "failing to think on their feet", as Somerset's overseas stars, Graeme Smith and Sanath Jayasuriya, laid the foundations of victory with an opening stand of 197 in 23 overs.

"They played very well and we let them play very well," said Ponting, for whom the humiliation came hot on the heels of their desperate defeat in the Twenty20 international at The Rose Bowl. "We'll have our work cut out against Bangladesh the way we're playing."

But he refused to let his wry sense of humour desert him entirely, and added: "We got a lot more out of the game than if we'd got them out for 80," a reference to their total of 79 against England on Monday. " We'll have a good long hard look at ourselves," he concluded, "but it's not the end of the world."