'It was a good tight tussle right to the end' - Ponting
Ricky Ponting and Brett Lee spoke to the media after a challenging yet eventually rewarding day in the field
Dileep Premachandran at Kuala Lumpur
22-Sep-2006
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Ricky Ponting said that he was more proud than relieved after Australia
had kept their nerve to emerge triumphant in yet another crunch game, and
he was effusive in his praise for the bowlers who delivered such telling
spells to script an 18-run victory.
Though he was defending just 213, Ponting said that India's early collapse
had given his team an edge that they never quite relinquished. "I thought
we were actually in the game for a fair bit of it to tell the truth," he
said, when asked if there had been a particular moment when he scented
victory. "Though we hadn't gotten the runs on the board, we got four
wickets quite early and if you looked at their team, you could realise
they had a fairly long tail with Ajit [Agarkar] batting where he was, and
Harbhajan [Singh] after him.
"We just needed another couple during the middle of the innings. I still
had Brett [Lee] and Glenn [McGrath] and Stuey Clark up my sleeve, so I was
always going to bring them back to hopefully finish things off. It was a
good tight tussle right to the end, and Australia generally wins most of
those contests."
The cockiness was tempered by the knowledge that it had been a close-run
thing, with the pre-planned omissions of Michael Clarke and Shane Watson
appearing to be glaring ones halfway through the day. "It's always nice to
have lots of options when you have a small total on the board but we
didn't have that tonight. Brett and the rest of the guys were terrific. We
covered the bases we were insufficient in. At the end of the day, it was a
very good win. We've mixed and matched our teams, and we've won just
enough games to make the final, as we always wanted to do."
There was unstinting praise for Lee, who finished with 5 for 38 while
denting Indian chances with every spell he bowled. "I've said that I think
he's the best one-day bowler," he said. "It's very rare that he doesn't
get wickets with the new ball. And you know that during the middle of the
innings, if you go back to someone with that sort of pace, it's going to
be difficult for new guys starting against him. It's just been a pleasure
watching the way he's going about his work at the moment."
The Brads, Hogg and Haddin, who gave Australia hope with a quickfire
77-run partnership, were also singled out. "That was a very good piece of
bowling," he said, when asked about the manner in which Hogg had outfoxed
Suresh Raina. "He's a pretty under-rated player for us. He's done a very
good job for a long period of time now. When he gets a chance, he does the
job and no one loves his cricket more. He was a vital cog in the chain
tonight, the guy we were always going to have to go to for a breakthrough
in the middle overs. He did it twice, and did well with the bat as well."
As for Haddin, Ponting said that his displays in the tournament had
revealed that a future without Adam Gilchrist might not be so frightening
after all. "We've known for a long time that Brad is a very good
cricketer," he said. "In most other teams around the world, he'd have
played a lot more cricket. He's just had to wait a long time behind Gilly.
You've seen the way he's batted and the way he's kept. He's going to be a
great replacement when Adam moves on."
The concerns centred on the batting, once again below par against a
disciplined Indian attack. "The running wasn't great either," he said with
a wry grin. "We've got to get a lot better before the final. The batting
hasn't been good. We've got out of jail a couple of times - Huss's hundred
the other day, and Haddin's been terrific at seven. The guys at the top
haven't got in and got the runs."
Amid the euphoria, there was also some words of praise for Dinesh Mongia's
fine effort. "I think we always knew he was that sort of player, and they
needed that sort at the top of their order. I wasn't surprised when
[Mohammad] Kaif came out when he did, and him [Mongia] as well. We knew he
could play, and he was very dogged. Losing wickets around him, it was up
to him to stay and steer them through, and he nearly did that."
Lee was understandably thrilled with his five-for, which took his
tournament returns to 8 for 84 from just two games. "It's always nice to
get two early wickets," he said. "With a man like Sachin Tendulkar out
there, it's nice to chance your arm against the best. Along with Ricky
[Ponting] and Brian [Lara], he's the best going around, so I'm pretty
happy.
It's just my second chance. The way the sides have been picked, it's given
all of us an opportunity to get back into it, and the body is feeling
good. It came out well tonight. Every spell I came up and bowled, I felt
confident, we had fantastic fields."
And though Glenn McGrath didn't pick up any wickets, his tightfistedness -
25 runs conceded from eight overs - played a big part in Lee's success.
"It's always great to have Glenn back," he said. "The figures speak for
themselves. Looking forward to the big final coming up on Sunday, the ICC
Trophy and the Ashes as well, it's a big summer, and hopefully one that
Glenn and I will be part of."
He also praised Ponting for his support during the lean years, when he
expended lots of energy in the nets without making it into the XI. "When I
wasn't bowling well, he sat me down and put a couple of different ideas in
my head," he said. "Thinking back to Brisbane a couple of years ago, he
had a really good chat with me. We look at Ricky as one for guidance."
As a member of the pace-bowling fraternity, he was also delighted by the
manner in which Stuart Clark bounced back after a mauling in the last
game. "I said after the last game, it's unfortunate the way one-day
cricket goes. He's the kind of bowler who can turn around straightaway.
He's gone from a disappointing match to bowling fantastic. He bowled at
good pace, had a fantastic caught-and-bowled. That definitely changed his
game."
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And after walking a disciplinary tightrope in recent times, Ponting spent
a couple of minutes having to answer questions about the Tendulkar
incident that saw him exchange more than a few words with Mark Benson, who
reversed his caught-behind decision. "The umpire made his decision, and
then he reversed it. I think he actually got it right in the end. He
explained the reason why. I wasn't that happy at the time, but it was the
umpire's decision."
Ponting made it clear that he hadn't approached the umpire to voice his
displeasure. "I didn't approach him, he called me over to explain why he
had changed his decision," he said. "I didn't actually see Sachin being
called back. I was in the middle of a group with the guys, and Mark was
calling me over to explain it."
He refused to accept that such controversial moments made a case for the
increased use of technology. "I've never been a great fan," he said
candidly. "We've experimented with a lot of things. The Super Test was one
where the umpires could refer everything to the third umpire. There were a
few that went either way. I think technology for line decisions, the way
it's being used, is about as much as it should be used.
"You have to understand that umpires are human and they will make
mistakes. Much like the players - we probably make as many mistakes as
anyone going around. I'm a big believer in leaving the human element in."
After his last transgression, Chris Broad, the match referee, had
suggested that Ponting was on very thin ice. And but for the umpires
taking a benevolent view of his antics today, he might well have slipped
under. With the Champions Trophy and the Ashes looming, Australia can
heave a sigh of relief that it hasn't happened.
Dileep Premachandran is features editor of Cricinfo