da bet7： Australia may be red-hot favourites but Ricky Ponting isn’t taking a resolute New Zealand lightly
da betano casino： Dileep Premachandran in Centurion04-Oct-2009If you go by rankings, and a perusal of the respective team-sheets, this should be a rout. Having trounced far more formidable opposition in the World Cup finals of 1999, 2003 and 2007, Australia are red-hot favourites to retain the ICC Champions Trophy that they won for the first time in 2006. Back then, West Indies were the surprise finalists and, in a match interrupted by rain, they were summarily brushed aside. New Zealand, who won this competition in a previous guise in 2000, could prove more prickly opposition, especially with the trans-Tasman contest having Big Brother-Little Brother undertones.Ricky Ponting and Shane Watson were ruthless in the demolition of England in the semi-final, and the same XI is likely to be trusted to do the job in the summit clash. Australia have lost just one game [to West Indies inMumbai, in 2006, when Jerome Taylor took a hat-trick] in a global 50-over tournament in the last five years [18 wins], and it will take a Herculean effort from New Zealand to deny them on a Centurion pitch that’s been full of runs.”I went and looked at the wicket and they’ve done a bit of maintenance work on it,” Ponting said. “We don’t exactly know how that’s going to come up yet. We’ll probably wait until morning and have a closer look at how the surface is. The way we’ve been playing the last couple of games would indicate that we don’t need to make too many changes. We know the conditions here pretty well, and all the guys are in good touch. It’s always nice to keep a winning combination together if you can.”There were suggestions before the tournament began that South Africa and India would be the teams to watch, having flirted with the No. 1 ranking in recent months. But neither could deal with the pressure of expectation and yet again, the overriding theme of a major tournament has been Advance, Australia Fair. “It’s always satisfying when you win, it doesn’t matter if you’re expected to or not,” Ponting said. “But it’s the first time in a few years that we haven’t been the No. 1-ranked team coming in. We were probably the No. 3 team in the world, and a lot of the experts probably thought that’s where we’d finish up.”But we’ve done everything that we’ve needed to so far. As I said after the England game the other night, it’s been about making sure we were ready for the big moments. We were in the semi-final, and we’ll make sure we’re ready for the big moments tomorrow as well.”Having overwhelmed England in a one-day series after the Ashes, Australiawere quietly confident coming into this tournament. “I was reallyencouraged by what I saw from a lot of the younger guys during the one-dayseries in England,” Ponting said. “It just goes to show, with Englandmaking the semi-finals here, just how well we did play against them. Our first couple of performances in this tournament was very good. We had a little bit of a glitch against Pakistan, the last half of our batting, but we rectified that very quickly against England. My expectations have always been very high.”Australia had a day off on Saturday, and some of their players spent itwatching the second semi-final. “I’m not a big cricket-watcher, I mustadmit, especially when I’ve got a day off,” Ponting said with a grin. “Alot of the guys, though, did sit back and watch the game last night, tosee how both sides played and what they were doing.”Pakistan, who took Australia to the last ball in a league game inCenturion, were heavily favoured to join them in the final, but Pontingsaid that it made no difference to him who they faced. “New Zealand wereobviously the better team yesterday, and I think that just goes to showhow hot and cold Pakistan can be. New Zealand have been good rightthe way through the series. They’ve had their ups and downs with injuries,but they keep managing to find guys that come in and fill that void.”The All Blacks may hold Rugby Union’s Bledisloe Cup, but it’s been allAustralia in recent times on the cricket pitch. Though New Zealand manageda 2-2 draw in the Chappell-Hadlee Series earlier this year, Australia have won 18 of 27 [losing seven] games over the past five years. “It’s always been a great rivalry, whether it be cricket, rugby or netball,” Ponting said. “The countries always seem to have some very good clashes in sport. It’sone that we’re looking forward to. The thing that I stress to the guys isnot to get too carried away with the size of the occasion. We just have toput up a performance and not try too hard for anything spectacular.”New Zealand have won more than a few admirers for their resolve in thiscompetition, especially given the appalling litany of injuries thatthey’ve had to cope with, and Ponting certainly won’t be taking anythingfor granted. “They play to their strengths and they do it very well,” hesaid. “They’re a very disciplined side and have been for a number ofyears. Even looking at the way [Grant] Elliott went about it last night,he calculated and worked things out very well. He played the situation.”You know that’s what New Zealand sides will do. They may not be the mostflamboyant players going around, but you know that they’ll always stand upand try and give their 100%. We have to match them in that department and let our skills take over everything else.”It’s been a turbulent year for Australian cricket, with South Africaending their unbeaten run on home soil, and an Ashes defeat as well. Theplayers have been away from home for close to five months, and Pontingadmitted that tomorrow’s result could have a big bearing on how theoverseas campaign is viewed. “We’ve played a lot of very good cricket,” hesaid. “Obviously, there’s the disappointment of losing the Ashes, but herein this tournament we’ve been focussed on building things up right the waythrough. We’re certainly on the right track to do that.”If we happen to play well tomorrow and win the tournament, we’ll lookback on the last five months as being a really good period in Australiancricket. We’ve introduced a lot of new guys who have now got 20 or 30games under their belt, and 10 or 12 Test matches. They’re starting tofind out what international cricket is all about. If you look ahead to thenext 12 months, this current group of players can take the Australiancricket team a long way forward.”Ponting himself has won every trophy there is to win, but there will be no shortage of motivation come Monday afternoon. “The other day, at the startof the semi-final against England, I was just jumping out of my skin,” hesaid. “I think the other players recognise that as well. One of theimportant things I have as a leader is to show that when the big gamescome up, us experienced guys really stand up. I’ll be exactly the sametomorrow morning. I’ll be up nice and early, and won’t be able to wait for12 o’clock to come around for that bus to leave.”The last time Australia played a major final in South Africa, down theroad at the Wanderers, Ponting scored 140 and Australia 359 as India wereannihilated in a World Cup final. Daniel Vettori and his team will need more than an African good-luck charm or two to avoid a similar fate.
