Use of new ball holds the key

PORT ELIZABETH: Australian skipper Ricky Ponting and his New Zealand counterpart Stephen Fleming agreed the use of the new ball will dictate the outcome of their Cricket World Cup Super Six match at St. George’s Park.

Australia square up against a determined New Zealand, and although a loss won’t harm the defending champions’ semifinal aspirations, they want to beat Stephen Fleming’s side and dent New Zealand’s progress. Australia regard New Zealand as a danger in a sudden-death match and are doing everything to avoid that. New Zealand must beat either Australia or India to qualify for the semifinal. If New Zealand qualify fourth, a trans-Tasman semifinal here is unavoidable.  “That’s an element that’s important to both sides,” Fleming agreed. “On that type of wicket it’s a game of attrition. If the match is not won in the 30th over, it will go down to the wire.” Fleming said winning was the only way for New Zealand to ensure a semifinal spot, and he was confident it could be done. “We want to just win matches. More than anything is another great opportunity to play Australia in a World Cup situation,” he said. “But we haven’t thought much past tomorrow. It’s obviously a key match for us.”

Fleming said the pitch might require changes to the lineup, although he expected Chris Cairns’ medium pace to play a big part . A fitness test before the start will give Fleming an idea how much Cairns can bowl. The 32-year-old allrounder has bowled just eight overs in six matches here, taking two wickets for 54 in the tournament. He took two wickets for 16 in the six-wicket win over Zimbabwe, his first wickets since coming back from a year off with knee problems. “I certainly want him as an option,” said Fleming, who also thinks Shane Bond is a weapon against the Aussies.

Bond’s bowling was instrumental in ousting Australia from the tri-series finals when he took 21 wickets at the start of 2002. “I’d love him to knock the top off Australia. He gets good shape to the left handers with good pace —- and that’s the key to restricting Australia.” Australia had a miserable match against England at Port Elizabeth and escaped with a two-wicket win with two balls to spare. Ponting is determined not to repeat those mistakes. Chasing England’s modest 204 for eight, Australia crashed to 135 for eight before Michael Bevan and “Man-of-the-Match” Andy Bichel saw the side home with unbeaten 74 and 34.

“The vital times in this match will be with the new ball ... whoever copes with using and playing the new ball,” said Ponting. “That’s what we didn’t do the last match here. “When we went out to bat, with the new ball being harder and with a bigger seam, we knew it was going to do more then than it would later in the match. Unfortunately we got ourselves into a fair bit of trouble.” Ponting singled out the top-order batting and the allrounders as New Zealand’s strengths. While Australia enjoy a 57-25 win-loss ratio over New Zealand, World Cup matches have always been closely fought. Australia lead 3-2 but New Zealand have always had a trick or to for their trans-Tasman neighbours.