da esport bet： He might have been criticised for being over the hill at the start of the tournament but Glenn McGrath’s performances over the last two matches show what a well-oiled machine he is
da premier bet： Siddhartha Vaidyanathan01-Nov-2006
‘I could improve still, but I was happy today’ © Getty Images
He might have been criticised for being over the hill at the start of the tournament but Glenn McGrath’s performances over the last two matches have shown what a well-oiled machine he is. Having turned in animmaculate ten-over spell that wrecked New Zealand’s top order, McGrathadmitted that he was well on his way towards reaching peak form.”The criticism didn’t affect me at all,” he revealed matter-of-factly atthe end of a thoroughly satisfying day. “To me it is all about how I feelI’m going. If I feel I’m progressing then that is all that matters. I cameover here and also in Kuala Lumpur to improve each game I played. I havedone that and I will keep doing that. By playing in this series and atKuala Lumpur, I have put a piece of the puzzle together.”It’s feeling pretty good at this moment. I could improve still, but I was happy today. We have a few more games before the Ashes. We will hopefully have a good game on Sunday and when we then go to Australia, I shouldn’t be too far away from being 100%.”Both captains had no doubt that McGrath’s spell, one where he wentstraight through with 3 for 22 in 10 overs, made the difference. Headded that giving McGrath the new ball in the last two games haddefinitely brought a spring in his stride. “I think every one of the guyswill like to bowl with the new ball,” Ricky Ponting admitted. “If I was a bowler, Iwould also like to be bowling with the new ball. We experimented a bit andin the conditions we played the other couple of games we thought the ballmight swing more than do anything off the seam. He’s not one of thebiggest swingers of the ball but one of the best seamers around. Thosewere ideal conditions for him here. We have seen the form he is in at themoment. It’s probably going to be hard to get the new ball out ofhis hand.”Despite starting the tournament on a sluggish note, both McGrath andPonting had come good in the previous two knockout games. Ponting admittedthat having men with experience had been the clinching factor. “Thesenior players in big tournament are crucial. You don’t want to go into these sort of events with anyone in the team who hasn’t played a few games. Big games are generally won by people who have been there and done it all before. If you look back to our last couple of World Cup campaigns, we had a really good mix of experience and youth around the squad. That is crucial as you saw tonight; the oldest player on the park comes out and wins theMan-of-the-Match award. He knew exactly what he had to do. He has done itall before and that is crucial to the team.”Ponting also didn’t discount the efforts of Australia’s other herotonight, Andrew Symonds. He chipped in with a handy 58, just when NewZealand had fought back well into the game, and played a role with theball as well. “He will be in my world XI every time,” Ponting asserted.”He is a terrific one-day player and to walk out the way he did today andmake the fifty was outstanding. It was exactly what we needed at thatstage. He is the best fieldsman in the world as well.”Daniel Vettori’s fighting fifty helped New Zealand stage some sort ofrevival but Ponting revealed that he wasn’t overly worried at any stage.”I always felt comfortable we were going to win because the run-rate wascreeping up all the time. Those guys had to take some risks but fullcredit to New Zealand for fighting all the way through. I told my boysthis morning that to beat this side you have to knock them over becausethey bat down the order. Dan and Jacob [Oram] played beautifully and itgot them somewhere back into the contest again but it was always going tobe a miracle if they won. That is what you expect of New Zealand.”
