Build-up to final not ideal - Ponting
Instead of taking confidence into the deciders Australia enter the finals on the back of a 13-run defeat and with their retiring star Adam Gilchrist feeling "like a bit of a goose".
Brydon Coverdale at the MCG
29-Feb-2008
![]()
| ||
Australia wanted to approach Sunday's first final against India with
winning momentum and they sought some practice chasing, after a series in
which they have nearly always batted first. They got one of their wishes
at the MCG but instead of taking confidence into the deciders they enter
on the back of a 13-run defeat and with their retiring star Adam Gilchrist
feeling "like a bit of a goose".
"A loss tonight, it's not an ideal lead-in," said Ricky Ponting, the captain.
"But all of our guys at different times through the series have
shown that they're in pretty good form. It's a matter of us getting five
or six guys in the one game to prove that.
"Right through the summer we've had two or three outstanding performances
in one game and that has been enough to get us across the line. We're going to need
more than that on Sunday to beat India. They're playing some good cricket
at the moment so we're going to have to play probably as well as we have
right through the summer if we want to win on Sunday."
The only other time Australia have batted second was in the series-opening
wash-out against India, but did not get a full chase there and were
struggling at 3 for 51 when the rain came. Ponting said he was even
considering sending Sri Lanka in had he won the toss, to get some
practice.
"It would have been good tonight if we had been able to get across
the line in a run-chase situation," he said. "But I'm not that concerned
with it because a lot of our guys have played a lot of cricket and know
what it takes to chase scores. Over the years I think we've probably been
as good as anyone at chasing big totals."
For a while it seemed they would reach their target of 222 comfortably,
when Gilchrist was thrilling the MCG with a boundary-filled 83 from 50
balls in his last match at the venue. They were 0 for 107 in the 15th over
but the momentum changed significantly when his opening partner James
Hopes fell and then Gilchrist holed out six balls later.
"I feel like a bit of a goose, actually," Gilchrist said. "I gave a pretty
good lesson on how to throw a game away, because that wicket has nagged
batsmen all summer. In any form of the game that's been played here,
batsmen haven't looked comfortable, haven't dominated at all.
"I had the game by the scruff of the neck so that's pretty disappointing.
It's a nice reminder, even at the end of your career, you've still got to
respect the game and respect the position that you're in. It was a
disappointing end."
Given that self-assessment his Man-of-the-Match award meant little, and a
chastened Gilchrist will enter the finals knowing a happier farewell to
Australian cricket will require a more considered approach. "A bit clearer
thinking once Hopesy [Hopes] got out would have been better," he said. "We've
always tried to pride ourselves on, once you lose one wicket just be a bit
more alert to try and consolidate a little partnership with the new
player. It was the next over, so I just needed to be a bit sharper there."
Brydon Coverdale is a staff writer at Cricinfo