Cricket
Ponting questions SA attack
2008-12-02 11:32
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Australia skipper Ricky Ponting (Gallo Images)
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Rob HouwingCape Town – Australian captain Ricky Ponting has begun turning up the psychological heat a fortnight ahead of the first Test against the Proteas in Perth.
Quoted in the Sydney Morning Herald after his team clinically polished off New Zealand in Adelaide to secure that series 2-0, Ponting said that South Africa had a “very good attack on paper”.
But he qualified the statement by adding: “It’s an attack that hasn’t played in Australia. We all know that it’s pretty easy to get carried away with conditions in Perth if you haven’t played there before.
“We all know as a batting group what we need to do, and we know as a bowling group what we need to do in Perth, so that’s one advantage we’ll probably have over the South Africans.”
Ponting is mostly correct in his assessment of the Proteas’ likely first-choice attack: none of Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel or Paul Harris has yet played a Test on Australian soil.
And even all-rounder Jacques Kallis, a veteran of 125 Test appearances, has not played a Test at Perth’s famously pace-friendly WACA ground: he was injured when South Africa played the first Test there in the 2005/06 series.
Some comfort is the fact that Makhaya Ntini picked up a “five-for” in the Aussie first innings on his own maiden WACA Test appearance.
Ponting admitted his team were “a fair bit below our best” in losing the series in India 2-0. “We have taken a step closer here (the innings victory over the Black Caps at Adelaide) to being at our best.
“It is great to see Brett (Lee) running back into some real rhythm and good form, taking nine wickets. His pace was probably higher in this game than it has been in a while, and that is a really good sign for us.”
Lee himself offered slightly kinder words to the Proteas attack. “They have got an amazing bowling line-up. I’m looking forward to watching Dale Steyn bowl, he’s got great pace. Morkel is a guy who is 6'6" – he’ll be pretty challenging at the WACA if it promises to be a nice, bouncy wicket.”