Series triumph delights Ponting

Australia skipper says victory in India bodes well for 2011 World Cup

Last updated: 8th November 2009   Subscribe to RSS Feed

Series triumph delights Ponting

Ponting: no whining, plenty of winning

They have been building experience towards the World Cup in 2011 and I think they will have learnt a lot from this tour.

Ricky Ponting
Quotes of the week

Related links

Teams

Players

Also see

Australia captain Ricky Ponting was proud of the way his side overcame a spate of injuries to win the one-day series in India.

The tourists opened an unassailable 4-2 lead in the seven-match series with a six-wicket success in Guwahati on Sunday.

Left-arm seamer Doug Bollinger took career-best figures of 5-35 as India were skittled for 170 after choosing to bat first.

Opening batsman Shane Watson's run-a-ball 49 helped Australia chase down their modest target with 8.1 overs to spare.

The series triumph in India was achieved despite four players from the original squad - Brett Lee, James Hopes, Tim Paine and Peter Siddle - returning home due to injury.

Australia were already shorn of a quartet of regulars in Michael Clarke, Brad Haddin, Callum Ferguson and Nathan Bracken.

Satisfying

"It's probably one of the best one-day series I have ever been involved in what with all the injuries and setbacks at the start of this tour," Ponting said.

"For the boys to stick together as a group and play as team of 11 players for the last few games has been very satisfying.

"India is a hard place to come and win and this victory means a lot, especially when you haven't got all your players to pick from.

"It makes it even harder when players are getting off planes and turning up and playing.

"No-one's shirking and no-one's whining, we have just got on with it and tried to do the best that we could.

"With each game that we have played, we have just gotten better and better so its really good signs for the team.

"Some of the younger guys have come into the team and have got a few games under their belt.

"They have been building experience towards the World Cup in 2011 and I think they will have learnt a lot from this tour."

The victory in Guwahati was Australia's third in a row and came on the heels of close-contests in Mohali and Hyderabad.

Ponting felt his team's superior fielding had been the key.

"The bowlers obviously led the way today, Johnson and Bollinger were outstanding upfront," he added.

"Once we got those four or five wickets we were always in control of the game.

"But our fielding has been great. We talk about it a lot around our team and pride ourselves on the way we field.

"Quite often in close games it's the fielding which is the difference between the teams.

"We've had a four-run win (Vadodara) and a three-run win (Hyderabad) in this series and some of the great fielding that we have had in this series has gone a long way in helping us win."

Mistakes

India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni admitted the loss of early wickets had ruined his side's chances.

"At the toss, I believed the first half hour would be crucial, but as it turned out 15 minutes was all that was needed," he said.

"We were never in the game after we lost those wickets in the morning and we were fortunate to reach 170.

"I think they bowled really well and although we could have batted second we would have been facing their spinners on a wearing pitch.

"Australia have taken the game away from us in close matches in Vadodara, Mohali and Hyderabad.

"We made a few mistakes and ended up losing matches which should have won.

"In a series like this, it's hard to make a comeback once that happens."