Ponting praises bowlers

Ponting: praise for bowlers

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Ricky Ponting insists a positive approach and the excellent form of his bowlers was the key to Australia's triumph over neighbours New Zealand in the Chappell-Hadlee series.

The Baggy Greens ensured they kept hold of the coveted trophy on Thursday as they claimed a six-wicket Duckworth-Lewis victory in Auckland to take an unassailable 3-1 lead in the five-match series.

Nathan Hauritz (3-46), James Hopes (2-38), Shane Watson (2-34) and Mitchell Johnson (2-40) all chipped in to ensure New Zealand were restricted to 238 all out in 44.1 overs.

After a rain delay, Australia were set a revised target of 200 from 34 overs and cruised home largely to half-centuries from Ponting (50) and Cameron White (50 not out).

While playing his part, Ponting was quick to offer praise to his attack, stating: "We've tried to keep attacking. We feel in these conditions on these wickets and these grounds being as quick as they are, if you don't take wickets through those middle overs then you really are exposed at the end of the innings.

"That's been my philosophy through this series to try and keep attacking from the first ball to the 30-over mark and try and put them out of the game before we get to the end.

"That's what we've been able to do. The bowlers have done a great job and as the series has gone on our fielding has got better as well.

Pressure

"Once you put teams under the sort of pressure we had them under today it becomes pretty hard to get into the game.

"Our wicket-taking ability through the middle has been the difference in the game."

It was the introduction of spin duo Hauritz and Hopes that made the difference in Auckland, with the New Zealanders subsequently failing to find the rope for 22 overs and losing a clatter of wickets in the process.

"If you hit your spots and you challenge the batsmen to play big shots all the time and take risks to hit boundaries then you have half a chance," Ponting continued.

"When Hauritz and Hopes came into the game it was a lot harder to score.

"It was harder to hit those boundaries and we restricted them and took their boundaries away and created chances which we took."

No excuses from Vettori

Black Caps skipper Daniel Vettori claimed his side were architects of their own downfall as they proved unable to bat out their 50 overs for the second successive game.

"If you look at most of the dismissals they are relatively soft dismissals," acknowledged Vettori.

"They are just poor mistakes and whether it is the mental shift from the aggressiveness to the accumulation I'm not too sure.

"But they are mistakes that shouldn't happen constantly and they have in these last three games.

"It was just about not putting enough runs on the board, losing wickets at crucial times and then putting ourselves under far too much pressure.

"When you do that against Australia you get yourself in trouble and that's what happened today."