Australia captain Ricky Ponting believes his side are ready for their biggest World Cup test so far when they tackle fellow heavyweights Pakistan on Saturday
Australia captain Ricky Ponting believes his side are ready for their biggest World Cup test so far when they tackle fellow heavyweights Pakistan on Saturday.
Defending champions Australia eased past Canada by seven wickets yesterday to go top of Group A with nine points from five games.
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| Australia skipper Ricky Ponting during their World Cup match against Canada in Bangalore. Australia won by seven wickets. PIC/Getty Images |
Like Pakistan they have already reached the quarter-finals, but Saturday's winner could decide who finishes top of the pool which should mean a potentially easier assignment in the last eight.
"We haven't been fully tested yet, but we will be by Pakistan in Colombo and we are looking forward to it," said Ponting, who again failed with the bat, making just seven runs. "Hopefully I'm saving up the runs for the bigger matches coming up."
Openers Shane Watson (94) and Brad Haddin (88) laid the groundwork for Australia's win as the champions chased a 212-run target with the pair putting on 183 for the opening wicket.
"Watson and Haddin were outstanding at the top of the order. We got the result we wanted," said Ponting.
Haddin said: "We found our rhythm late in our innings just like our bowlers did late on when Canada batted," said the wicketkeeper.
"Now we hope to take it all into the game against Pakistan. We are hitting the areas we want to hit. You have to build things at the back end of the game and we are doing that perfectly.
"We're heading in the right direction for Pakistan," he added.
