Ponting predicts India will beat Pakistan in the semifinals

AHMEDABAD: Australian captain Ricky Pontingon Thursday predicted that India would beatPakistan in the World Cup semifinal and Mahendra Singh Dhoni's men are the strong favourites to win the coveted title after a gap of 28 years. 

"India played well as a team today and deserved victory. Today we were not good enough (to win). Going forward they will be pretty hard to beat. They will beat Pakistan in the semifinal and go on to win the World Cup now," Ponting said at the post-match press conference after Australia were knocked out of the World Cup by India. 

"India have a very good batting line-up. We played very competitive cricket tonight but I'm disappointed with the two successive losses (against Pakistan in their last league game and today against India)," he said after his side's five-wicket loss in a high-octane World Cup quarterfinal. 

He said he would not be playing in the next World Cup but ruled out quitting one-day cricket. 

"I am not quitting one-day cricket but this is probably my last World Cup game. I will be happy to look back after retirement that I made a century in my last innings in the World Cup," Ponting said

He also said that the talk of the end of an era in Australian cricket was misplaced. 

"It's a bit premature to say it was the end of an era for Australian cricket, it was a pretty good game tonight. I do not think we were far away from winning the game against a very good Indian team on their home soil. I think it's a bit too early to say it's the end of an era," said Ponting. 

Ponting said his side had the chances to win the game and they were devastated by the loss. 

"We had great expectations from the game. We were a well organized group. We are devastated. We found it difficult to get momentum. Not performing at critical moments cost us the game. We did not grab our opportunities," he said. 

"We were 15 to 20 runs short with the bat. 250-260 was a good total but we lost wickets at bad time and never got the momentum going. We did not execute the plans properly," said the 36-year-old Tasmanian who scored a superb 104 after having struggled in the earlier part of the tournament. 

The Australian captain felt the schedule of the tournament could have been spread out better but said that that cannot be an excuse for his side's crashing out in the quarterfinals. 

"The schedule did not help us. But that cannot be put as an excuse for the loss. Over the last ten days my team has played four games. It would have been nice to have them (games) evenly spread out," he said. 

He sympathised with his key fast bowler Brett Lee who had made a great effort to get back into the team after a 14-month injury lay-off. 

"Brett has given a lot for Australian cricket during his entire career and at times coming back after big injuries. He will be shattered as he has worked very hard to get here," he said.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/sports/cricket/cricket-world-cup-2011/news/Ponting-predicts-India-will-beat-Pakistan-in-the-semifinals/articleshow/7784011.cms

Aus vs NZ: Convincing 7-wicket win for Aussies against Kiwis

Australia beat their trans-Tasman rivals New Zealand by seven wickets in a one-sided World Cup Group B match at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Ground in Nagpur on Friday. 

Chasing a partly 207, the Australians got off to a fine start with openers Shane Watson and Brad Haddin milking away the Kiwi bowlers. The duo batted on at ease even as the Kiwis tried hard to figure out a way to stop their charge.

Their bowling lacked the kill and the Aussies continued to pound away boundaries. Finally Kiwi pacer Hamish Bennett managed to break their partnership when the Aussie score was 133 runs. It was a slower ball that did the trick albeit a bit late. Haddin went for an aerial shot and ended up giving a catch to James Franklin at deep midwicket. Haddin scored 55.

With the partnership broken, the other opener Shane Watson too lost his rhythm and got out in the 20th over when the Aussie score was 136/2. He was cleaned bowled by Bennett on 62.

A few minutes later Aussie skipper Ricky Pointing too fell trying to play Tim Southee down the leg side. The ball was wide off the leg side and Ponting still touched it trying to play it towards the fine-leg boundary. But keeper Brendon McCullum had other plans, he collected the ball and even before Ponting could realise his error his bails were off. He scored 12 as the Australia score read 167/3.

Finally, Michael Clarke and Cameron White batted on to carry the Aussies to victory in the 34th over.

New Zealand innings

New Zealand posted a meagre 206 against Australia in their World Cup Group A match. The total could have been all the more dismal hadn't Nathan McCullum and skipper Daniel Vettori staged a late revival at death.

In the morning, Aussie skipper Ricky Ponting won the toss and decided to bowl under overcast conditions - a move aimed helping his pacemen excel. And that's what they did with Shaun Tait and Mitchell Johnson ripping the Kiwi batting apart.

Shaun Tait started the job rather early removing opener Brendon McCullum in the fourth over of the day.

However, it was more of McCullum's fault in the way he got out. He went for a big hit right away and Jason Krejza took a fine catch in the deep. He fell for 16 as New Zealand slumped to 20/1 in 3.4 overs.

Shortly after McCullum's dismissal, the other opener Martin Guptill too walked back with Shane Watson castling him on 40/2 in the 9th over. He scored 10.

But, that was just the beginning of the Aussie charge as Mitchell Johnson claimed two wickets in the space of two balls to push the Kiwis to the wall. Ryder fell for 25 while James Franklin hadn't even opened his account, when Johnson removed them. The New Zealand score at the stage was 66/4 in 13.5 overs.

Clearly the Aussies pacemen were at a party and Shaun Tait struck back to make sure he had more reason to cheer. After removing McCullum in early, he claimed seasoned batsman Scott Styris in the 15th over when the Kiwi total was 67/5. Poor Styris hadn't even opened his account.

Tait was far from satisfied and in his next over he struck again to get rid of Ross Taylor (7) with a fine yorker. Kiwis were reeling on 73/6.

Six wickets down and the pitch dry by then, the Kiwis finally managed to forge a small 48-run partnership with Nathan McCullum and Jamie How sticking together for 40 minutes.

The two used 12 overs and scored the rate of four runs an over helping their team cross the 100-run mark. But in the 29th over, leg-spinner Steve Smith decided to break their stand. He tossed the ball in the middle and removed How with an LBW decision. The Kiwis went for a decision review, but it proved to be unsuccessful as New Zealand slumped to 121/7.

Finally, Nathan McCullum decided to stage a comeback, but it was too late for the Kiwis as he along with skipper Daniel Vettori were the last recognised batsmen in their camp. Nathan carried on and even scored the team's highest individual total with 52 on board.

However, after staying at the crease for more than an hour a change in bowling foxed Nathan as he became Mitchell Johnson's third victim on 175/8 in the 42nd over. Once again the Kiwis decided to use the review and once again it proved unsuccessful.

Skipper Daniel Vettori too departed with Brett Lee claiming his wicket. He scored a resolute 44 helping the Kiwis cross 200-run mark.

Eventually New Zealand were all out for a partly 206 on the first ball of the 46th over with Shaun Tait (3-35) and Mitchell Johnson (4-33) claiming seven wicket between them.

Source:-http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/Story/130835/sports/aus-vs-nz-match-report.html