26 February,2011 07:14 AM IST | | Harit N Joshi
Kiwi speedster-turned-commentator Danny Morrison believes the Aussies are being clever by taking their time to get into the groove
You expect three-time successive world champions and World No 1 side to go slam bang over weaker and smaller teams. But nothing of that sort happened with Australia.
Top: NZ pacer-turned-commentator Danny Morrison. Pic/Getty Images
Both their win in this edition of the World Cup, first against Zimbabwe by 91 runs, and yesterday against New Zealand by seven wickets at the VCA Stadium in Jamtha here, have not been dominant enough. Yesterday, New Zealand were all out for 206 runs. But if you conclude that Ricky Ponting's Australia are no more title contenders for this edition, think again.
In fact, from whatever has been seen from both matches, they are spending a great deal of time in the middle to get a good feel of the conditions and not going all out to finish games quickly. Yesterday, Ponting used Shane Watson only for three overs and instead made his spinners Jason Krejza and Steve Smith bowl almost their full quota of overs.
Slow build-up
Former New Zealand strike bowler Danny Morrison felt the Aussies are playing smart cricket. "I feel are starting out nicely. It is not a sprint race, it is a long tournament. They are building up slowly, preventing injuries and keeping their players fresh for the challenges in the knock-out stage," Morrison told MiD DAY yesterday.
"You can't write them off. They are gunning for their fourth World Cup in a row, which is a huge motivation," added Morrison, who is on commentary duty here. Ponting's strategy of his team spending time in the middle is helping them iron out their flaws. While Australia's batsmen struggled to play quality spin in their opening game against Zimbabwe in Ahmedabad, they hardly gave anything away against Daniel Vettori (0-39) yesterday.
Ponting may have a new headache in the fact that though his pace trio of Brett Lee (1-29), Shaun Tait (3-35) and Mitchell Johnson (4-33) grabbed eight scalps against a weaker batting line-up of New Zealand yesterday, some of the deliveries didn't deserve wickets.
Too many extras
Tait and Johnson struggled to get their line right in overcast conditions. The duo bowled two no-balls and six wides in the 24 extras -- something that might cost the Aussies dear against stronger teams. In their World Cup opener game against Zimbabwe in Ahmedabad, the Aussies conceded 18 extras.
"Aussies are big-match players," Morrison summed up, indicating that this is not their true form. Ponting too admitted that it was good for his batters to spend some time out in the middle. "It is always nice to get good time in the middle. So far, the middle order has spent some good time on the wicket," Ponting said in the post-match conference.
