Ponting wants batsmen to improve against spin

Ricky Ponting has said that Australia's batsmen will have to step up their game if they are to win the World Cup after their dramatic collapse in the warm-up match against India in Bangalore. Chasing 215 to win, Australia were 118 for 1 at one stage, but the middle order disintegrated in stunning fashion to be shot out for 176 on a turning track. 

Ponting blamed the "under-prepared" pitch for the batting debacle. "It was an unusual ODI wicket, I don't remember the last one-day wicket I've played on that spun that much," Ponting said after the 38-run loss. "You have to find a way sometimes to combat good spin bowling on tough conditions like that. Who knows as the tournament goes on, we could face conditions like that somewhere else, and I would like to think that we can play a lot better. Otherwise, we can't win. Hopefully some of the younger guys in the middle order can learn a little bit about starting in tough conditions." 

Australia lost their last nine wickets for 58 runs but Ponting said he wasn't overly concerned as he felt the pitch made batting an arduous task. "Yes, we were disappointing and should have played better, but by the same token even the Indian batsmen would have found it difficult to bat in those conditions. I have played a lot of one-day cricket here in India and Sri Lanka, but I don't think I have ever played in an ODI game with so much spin. We only arrived here two days back and will get more practice as things move on."

Though Australia's batsmen wilted, their seamers, led by the impressive Brett Lee, turned in a good show to restrict India. They also conceded 25 wides but Ponting said that the bowlers know their job. "It's unacceptable to bowl that many wides in one-dayers but the bowlers know that, we know that. Lee and Mitchell Johnson were terrific, John Hastings bowled very well and we still should have chased that many runs. We were 1 for 100 when Tim [Paine] and I were in ..." 

Ponting also spoke about his spinners and how he plans to use them in the World Cup. They rested Steve Smith and played Jason Krejza yesterday, but Ponting assured that Smith will be one of the key players for Australia in the tournament. "Smith will definitely bowl a lot of overs in the tournament. Jason Krejza will learn from his outing today, [Michael] Clarke can bowl when needed but Smith will play a lot." Cameron White, the other batsman who can bowl some spin, has already admitted he is no longer an allrounder and will play as a pure batsman. "Just lost a bit of confidence as a bowler to be honest," White said. "I am just concentrating on my batting and enjoying that role." 

Ponting's batting was one of the major positives to emerge for Australia. He made 57 before becoming the seventh wicket to fall, stumped after missing a slog sweep against Harbhajan Singh. Ponting had suffered a finger injury during the Ashes and didn't play in the seven-match ODI series against England. In the absence of Michael Hussey, there will be immense pressure on Ponting to deliver and he was happy that he could spend some time in the middle. "My fingers are ok. It was nice to spend 80-odd minutes in the middle. It was my first game in six weeks. I certainly wasn't at my best but it was difficult out there and I should be better for the outing. 

"I have to be a consistent run-scorer. I certainly wasn't that in the summer. It was nice to get some runs but it doesn't count for much. The runs I score in the bigger games will be important. I am feeling good; I have worked as hard as I can since my finger surgery. I feel good with my body and felt good with my batting tonight. Hopefully I can get some more runs in the next warm-up game and carry that form through the tournament."

Chawla turns it around

Let's give Piyush Chawla his due: he spun the ball with control, stuck to a disciplined line, and firmly wrenched the match out of Australia's grasp. It was a match-winning performance in his first-ever one-dayer in India, when anything less would've have probably hurt his ambitions, especially given the raging debate that had erupted in the wake of his selection to the Indian World Cup squad. 

Though a performance like today's in a warm-up is not enough justification for his inclusion, Chawla at least showed visible signs that he has been working hard on getting his legbreak right. In the past he has struggled to spin the delivery Shane Warne built his legend on, and being just 22 then, Chawla was reluctant to admit his limitation. Having recently returned to the national team after a three-year hiatus, he appears to be steadily regaining lost ground. 

Chawla had watched Jason Krejza turn the ball big in the afternoon and when his turn came to bowl, Australia were a comfortable 72 for 1. Shane Watson and Tim Paine had taken advantage of the hard ball and the absence of swing in the first ten overs to give Australia a confident start. Chawla's first ball slipped down the leg side for five wides. The dew, perhaps. He rubbed his palms dry and started afresh. The legbreak came out nicely, but Paine safely left it alone. He worked on that delivery for the next four overs, keeping Ricky Ponting busy without ever giving him width. 

With a small target to defend, Dhoni knew he had no option but to attack, and that pressure could only be built through the various spinners at his disposal. Along with Chawla, the trio of R Aswhin, Yuvraj Singh and Harbhajan Singh tied down the Australians with smart variations. The batsmen were kept hungry with barely a bad ball on offer. 

Chawla found his voice immediately in his second spell. The reputation of Michael Clarke as one of the better players of spin had already taken a beating when the Australian vice-captain failed badly during the Test series in India last year. Chawla was aware of Clarke's tendency to charge to kill the spin. So he pushed in a couple of sliders, then followed it with a fast-ish leg break. Clarke tried cutting with hard hands, only to play on.

Chawla's biggest victory though was to keep Ponting silent. "That is probably the best I've seen him bowl," Ponting said in praise of Chawla. "He spun the ball a bit more tonight. His control was pretty good. He along with the other spinners did a good job and some of our new batsmen found it difficult. You can see that from the low scores in the middle order as it was hard to start against that spin bowling tonight." 

The handsome crowd, who had started to fill in an hour before the match started, played the supporting act. Their roars enlivened the atmosphere. Chawla kept his emotions in check. Two perfect legbreaks with successive deliveries got the better of Cameron White and David Hussey. Desperate, Callum Fergusson tried to take on the lethal legbreak and was bitten. 

As Ponting admitted, it was a lesson for his batsmen to understand the conditions today. "It was an unusual one-day wicket. I don't remember the last wicket that spun that much. But you have to find a way sometimes to combat good spin bowling in tough conditions like today." 

In contrast, Dhoni was a happy man, saying he was confident Chawla would perform even if he had gone wicketless on his return to international cricket in the final match of the ODI series in South Africa in January. "His first game after returning to play for the country was under pressure, which is quite acceptable," Dhoni said. "[Today], it was a wicket which was turning a bit and he made the batsmen really think hard about the variations that he has got." 

Dhoni agreed it was a tough wicket to bat on, but felt the Australians succumbed to pressure and that was the turning point. "Initially, when the fast bowlers were on the ball was coming on nicely but once we got couple of wickets in the middle, the ball was spinning. And once you are under pressure and you want to win the game desperately the pressure keeps mounting . It may have happened with the Australian side."

At the same time he pointed out that such a turner would be hard to find during the World Cup. "This is a sort wicket to be provided in Test matches, where the ball took spin after two hours," Dhoni said. Yet, Chawla, for one, would not mind such a pitch.

'Sri Lanka will play seven batsmen' - Bayliss

Trevor Bayliss, the Sri Lanka coach, has given some insight into the XI his side will field during the World Cup, saying they would stick to a combination of seven batsmen and four bowlers, since it has served them well in home games. Sri Lanka experimented with playing six batsmen and five bowlers on their 2010 tour of Australia, with allrounders Angelo Mathews and Thisara Perera batting at Nos. 6 and 7, but reverted to a seven-four formula for the home series against West Indies. 

"We've got eight batters [in the 15-man squad] and in the last two or three years we've played a seven-four combination with (Angelo) Mathews in the top six being a bowler as well," Bayliss, who will quit the Sri Lanka job after the World Cup, said. "I can't see it changing just at the moment. In Australia we played six-five but seven-four seems to be the way we play our best cricket in Sri Lanka." 

That means Thisara Perera may not find a place in the XI, since he has been a bit inconsistent with the bat, and may not make the cut as a seamer ahead of Nuwan Kulasekara and Dilhara Fernando. Bayliss, however, said Perera would play some part in the campaign. "Thisara Perera's been very impressive through the Asia Cup and the tri-series we played before Christmas, up in Dambulla, against India and New Zealand. Ever since then he is taking wickets. 

"He is a big fellow, very athletic in the field, got strong arms and as you know he can whack the ball out of the stadium. He is an important part of our squad and I am sure that at some stage during this World Cup he will find form." 

The other decision Sri Lanka have to make is which four bowlers to play. Lasith Malinga and Muttiah Muralitharan are the two sure starters, if they are fit, while Fernando and Kulasekara are the two other fast-bowling options with Rangana Herath and Ajantha Mendis the other two spinners in the fifteen.

Fernando took four wickets in Sri Lanka's 158-run win in the warm-up match against Netherlands, and while Bayliss was satisfied with his performance, he suggested he may only be used in a three-seamer attack. "Dilhara is a guy who cops a little bit of criticism but if he can bowl more like the way he did [in the warm-up match] more often I am sure that criticism will disappear. That's the type of bowling we want to see from him in this World Cup and if he does that and backs up Lasith Malinga and Nuwan Kulasekara then we'll be putting in very good bowling performances." 

In the home series against West Indies, Sri Lanka opted for two spinners, and Bayliss said Mendis and Herath would have to battle it out for the second spot. He explained Muralitharan's absence from the warm-up game by saying, "Murali is getting towards the end of his career and we want to make sure that he is mentally and physically fresh to play the game we want him to play." 

Sri Lanka are being touted as one of the favourites to win the World Cup, with their one possible weakness being the inexperience in the middle order, but Bayliss was quick to defend his batsmen. "The middle-order guys get a bit of a raw deal. They are asked to perform when the top order don't. You've got seven batters in the team and it is up to every one of those seven to do their job in the line-up and that includes the openers, the top order and the middle order."

South Africa face old rivals in warm up

There are only two survivors from that semi-final between South Africa and Australia at Edgbaston in 1999 in this World Cup. Only Jacques Kallis and Ricky Ponting have experienced the heartache and exhilaration that laid the foundation for an intense rivalry between the two countries in the 21st century. Most of the men in the present squads only had a small taste of the tough contest that plays out when these two teams meet, in the 2008-09 season. They'll be served another morsel in the warm-up match in Bangalore, and even though it's only for practice, the winners will take confidence out of beating their old foes. 

South Africa have more painful memories and will be particularly gleeful if they walk away with a victory, although coach Corrie van Zyl warned against reading too much into the match. "It's important for us to win in terms of getting ready for the 24th, which is when the real thing starts," he said. South Africa have another ten days before their World Cup campaign gets underway against West Indies in Delhi and are being careful not to get distracted before then. 

The outcome of tomorrow's match could be one such distraction, perhaps more so if South Africa win. Australia are by no means the invincible side they once were, and they don't have the same hold over South Africa that they once did, but the contest is still talked up. van Zyl is trying to get his team to think beyond that. "To think about those things in the past is unnecessary," he said. "This is a different side now." 

The biggest change for South Africa is that they have a more varied bowling attack than ever before, headlined by three frontline and two part-time spinners. Collectively, they took six wickets in the warm-up game against Zimbabwe, and after seeing the amount of turn the Bangalore pitch offered, they must be drooling at the sight of it. Australia lost 9 for 58 against India on Sunday, and their batsmen have plenty to ponder over before facing South Africa's spinners, all of whom are likely to play. 

"We want to give everyone an opportunity," van Zyl said, indicating South Africa may field all 15 players. It will be a helpful exercise for Dale Steyn, who got nothing out of the Chennai pitch and saw some Australian seamers succeed in Bangalore. Steyn bowled much slower than normal against Zimbabwe but there were no doubts over his fitness. "Dale brings a uniqueness to the bowling attack with his pace and swing and is obviously a very important player for us. We are looking to have a complete bowling attack and he is part of that." 

There was a fear that one of the prongs of that attack, Lonwabo Tsotsobe, may be out of action for a while after spraining his knee against Zimbabwe but he was running during training with no problems. "He has done work with the physio and practiced under guidance and we hope he will be ready for tomorrow," van Zyl said. 

The emphasis is on getting every member of the squad as prepared as possible and not on the overall outcome. With that in mind, the middle order is a concern because it did not have much time at the crease on Saturday. Although van Zyl would like to see the likes of JP Duminy, Colin Ingram and Johan Botha batting, he doesn't want it to come "because the top order did a bad job." Ideally he would like them to "get an opportunity at a later stage in the innings." 

The only other player whose preparation is under scrutiny is Jacques Kallis. He batted with sublime confidence on Saturday but did not bowl and is unlikely to do so on Tuesday. van Zyl hoped the step-by-step reintroduction will pay off and Kallis will peak during the tournament. "When he has had periods of rest, he always comes back so strongly, so we hope that will happen again. It's important that he is ready for the business end." 

That end of the tournament is not for another five weeks, and even though many will see Tuesday's match as a possible semi-final or final, it will be crucial for South Africa to remember that it isn't and concentrate on their method, not the result. A victory over Australia later in the tournament will be much sweeter.

Chigumbura ton lifts Zimbabwe to 244

Zimbabwe captain Elton Chigumbura led by example, rescuing his side from a precarious position before propelling them to a competitive one during an attacking century. He struck eight fours and three sixes in his unbeaten 103, which included an onslaught at the death following a measured initial approach that lent stability to Zimbabwe's wobbly innings. For Ireland, Trent Johnston was the pick of the bowlers, nipping out two early wickets in a phase that his side dominated before Chigumbura seized the initiative.