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Ricky Ponting is confident Australia’s strong record in big matches will help them through the semi-final with South Africa in St Lucia on Wednesday. The teams are set to play for a place in the decider after South Africa thrashed England on Tuesday.”It was a big game for them, but not as big as a World Cup semi-final or final,” Ponting said in The Australian. “We have a great record in those games and we are looking forward to playing them. It’s a little way off. We have a good game to play against New Zealand first, but we are very excited about the prospect of playing South Africa.”Australia’s most famous success against South Africa came in the 1999 World Cup semi-final when they tied the game at Edgbaston and went through to the final on a superior run-rate. However, Australia lost the most recent series 3-2 when South Africa overhauled Australia’s 434 to take the trophy. “They have been good rivals of ours,” he said. “They have played excellent cricket of late against us as well.”Ponting is wary of the depth of South Africa’s side and considers them a threat on the Caribbean surfaces. “By the looks of things they might have got conditions to suit them a little bit with their bowling early on, but their batting was very good,” he said. “They are a dangerous side.”

Andy Pycroft, Zimbabwe’s team manager, wants to put in the background the politics and the economics that have afflicted Zimbabwe’s cricket in recent times. Instead he wants to concentrate on developing their reconstructed, inexperienced side for their forthcoming trip to the Caribbean.”We’re looking at cricket not politics and trying to prepare this new side as quickly as we can.”As they prepare to head for the West Indies for a series of seven one-day internationals, starting on April 29, Pycroft is optimistic they will make the type of progress to ensure they return to Test cricket early next year.”We wouldn’t be doing what we’re doing unless we believe it was possible,” Pycroft said. “The time frame set to try and get back into Test cricket is February next year.”We’ve very much been focused on one-day cricket because we believe that’s the way to bring the side through and then get back into longer cricket once we’ve got the experience that we need.”Pycroft, who played three Tests and 20 one-day internationals for Zimbabwe between 1983 and 1992, was speaking from Harare during an interview with CMC CricketPlus during the third day of the Carib Beer Challenge final between Trinidad and Tobago and Barbados at Guracara Park on Monday.A series victory, he admitted, would certainly raise a lot of eyebrows. “A lot of people have written Zimbabwe cricket off with the problems they’ve had, but there is still a lot of potential there.”Their 16-man squad, led by Terrance Duffin, includes several players with very little international experience, but the manager is upbeat about the preparations.”The mood’s been very good. It’s a very young side. The average age is only something just over 20 years old, forced on us because a lot of players have given up in the recent past,” Pycroft said. “The side we’ve got together has been practising hard over the last five or six weeks. They are learning quickly and playing quite well. The strength of the side is more in the bowling department. The batting is quite inexperienced.”Prior to coming to the Caribbean, Zimbabwe played against Kenya and after the ODIs against the West Indies, they will remain for a triangular limited-overs series in Trinidad that also involves Bermuda and Canada.”We want these lads to get as much experience as possible. A lot of these guys haven’t played at international level,” Pycroft said. “They are getting better and better. The aim of this tour is to give them experience as quickly as possible and to be as competitive as possible. There is no doubt we can do it.”

Another Chennai Test, another Australia collapse. Those who were here three years ago could tell you that it wasn’t Harbhajan Singh’s 15 wickets or Sachin Tendulkar’s century that won India the series. No, it was Steve Waugh’s hand. When the man renowned for his steely temperament decided to play catch with a Harbhajan delivery that was spinning back towards the stumps, Australia were 340 for 3, and on course to give India the hiding to end all hidings. Matthew Hayden was at his intimidating best at the other end, and Waugh himself had seldom been troubled during his innings.But that momentary lapse of reason left the door ajar for Harbhajan, and a little over an hour later, Australia had subsided to 391 all out. The world champions don’t do anything by halves, and when they lose the plot, it can make the average B-grade Bollywood potboiler look coherent. At Kolkata a week earlier, with VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid having played the innings of their lives, Australia were handily placed to salvage a draw on the final day, going to tea at 161 for 3, with the Hayden-Waugh combination occupying the crease.But once Waugh was caught in the close-in cordon by Hemang Badani, the last seven batsmen were loath to make the scorers work unduly hard, adding only 46 more before subsiding to 212 all out. This penchant for stunning collapses hasn’t been restricted to matches in India either. In the series opener against India at Brisbane last year, Australia went from 268 for 2 to 323 all out. And in the Adelaide match, where they lost despite piling up an imposing 556 in the first innings, the last five second-innings wickets added just 13.Of course, only a foolish punter would write off Australia’s chances here. In Sri Lanka a few months ago, they conceded first-innings leads of 161 and 91 in the first two Tests, storming back to win both despite a certain Muttiah Muralitharan being in opposition. But the stumble from 189 for 2 to 235 today certainly gives India hope. Like the boxer who strives incessantly for a knockout despite being way ahead on points, Australia remain suspect to the sucker punch, and Anil Kumble’s haymaker certainly laid them out cold.

Farveez Maharoof, Sri Lanka’s Under-19 captain and a fast bowling allrounder, leads the Man of the Tournament standings at the end of the first group phase. Maharoof picked up points in all three of his matches for both bowling and batting to lead the standings with seven points. Maharoof, a Wesley College schoolboy who has played for the A team, is tipped to break into the national squad soon.Mahroof was one point ahead of a quartet of challengers including Chamith Kulasekara, a teammate, and Shikhar Dhawan, an Indian batsman who has hit two centuries and is the tournament’s leading run-scorer. The surprise inclusion near the top of the table is Nepal’s Shakti Gauchan whose patient batting displays against South Africa and Uganda have earned him two Man of the Match awards.

BEWARE, BARBADOS!Stung by a shocking defeat against lightweights Windward Islands last weekend, reigning regional Cup holders Jamaica plan to set the record straight when they meet Courtney Browne’s red-hot men in the third round of the Carib Beer Series, starting today."Our priority is to win. We must try and get 12 points in this game," Jamaica coach Robert Haynes said yesterday.After that narrow defeat to the Windwards in Kingston, there was a serious post-mortem.The players have been told what is expected of them."We had a strong meeting after the game. The captain and I spoke to them," Haynes said."We let them know the youngsters have to pull their weight."Veterans Nehemiah Perry and captain Robert Samuels gave Jamaica a chance of victory on the last day, but the only youngster who made an impression in the match against Windwards was Dave Bernard Jr."The youngsters are the future of Jamaica and West Indies cricket," Haynes said."They need to come and keep their head down. Having said that, they are pretty keen."They realised they blundered in that game. We’ve just got to set the record straight by going out there and playing some good cricket against Barbados."The Jamaica team that will take the field over the next four days will be more formidable than the one that played at Sabina Park last weekend.The recuperating Gareth Breese is set for his first match of the tournament following knee surgery, while Leon Garrick and Franklyn Rose return after missing the last match for varying reasons.Rose, Jamaica’s most experienced fast bowler, was surprisingly dropped after the opening match, while Garrick served a one-match suspension for a breach of discipline.Haynes confirmed both would be in the line-up for the match that will be played at Barbados’ newest first-class venue – the North Stars Cultural and Social Club in Crab Hill in the northern parish of St Lucy."Franklyn didn’t bowl well in Anguilla and the selectors dropped him," Haynes said."But Franklyn is a professional. He realised that he wasn’t bowling well. He’s looking a lot better. We know we can depend on him. It is just for him to get his confidence."Opener Garrick hit a half-century in the opening match before he landed himself in trouble with Jamaican cricket authorities."He paid his price. He is a class player. Once he is focused, he is going to get a lot of runs," Haynes said."I think all Jamaica are glad to see him back in the team. We want to see him go out there and perform to the best of his ability."

Cricket officials Monday explained procedure through which three teamswill qualify for the 2003 World Cup in South Africa after the currentsix-team ICC Trophy Super League being played here.A spokesman for the tournament said Monday: “Under the playingconditions in use for the 2001 ICC Trophy tournament, the teams whichfinished in the top three places in each of the two groups in DivisionOne automatically qualified for the Super League phase of the event.Namely, these sides are: Holland, Scotland, Canada, Denmark, Irelandand the USA.” He said after Saturday’s two playoff matches, they havebeen joined in this stage of the competition by Namibia and the UnitedArab Emirates.”While it will involve a total of eight teams rather than six, theSuper League section shares many similarities with the Super Sixconcept used in the 1999 World Cup in England,” he explained.It pits the best-performed teams in the earlier rounds of thetournament in direct competition with one another in order todetermine which four teams progress to the finals of the tournament.Each of the eight teams that move through to the Super League willcarry forward the points and net run rates that they gained againstthe other sides that qualified from their group.They then play four matches – against the four sides they have not yetmet – and the results are tallied to produce a Super League table.Having been the only side to reach the last eight from Division Two,Namibia inherits the points and net run rates that Bermuda – the teamit beat in the playoff round – gained against the other sides thatqualified from its group.At the completion of the four days of Super League matches, the teamsthose finishing first and second on the table will contest the finaland will both automatically qualify for the 2003 World Cup.The sides those finishing third and fourth will meet in the qualifyingfinal, and the winners of that match will also reserve themselves aplace in World Cup 2003, the spokesman said.

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The Mumbai Champs, already out of the reckoning for a semi-final spot, cruised to a consolation 35-run victory over the Chandigarh Lions. The win was set up by a solid batting display, led by their captain Nathan Astle’s breezy 42.Astle chose to bat at the toss, and the Champs lost two wickets before he and Subhojit Paul smashed 60 runs in six overs. Shreyas Khanolkar and Kiran Powar provided useful contributions before Ranjit Khirid provided the impetus towards the end of the innings. He lashed a 21-ball 32 to lift the Champs to 160.Andrew Hall turned in an outstanding bowling performance, finishing with 4 for 8 in his three overs, while Daryl Tuffey, Chris Cairns and Dinesh Mongia went for more than nine an over.After Manish Sharma was run out in the second over, Tejinder Pal Singh and Lou Vincent set up a platform for the Lions’ chase, taking them to 46 before Vincent fell in the eighth over. Shridhar Iyer then struck twice to remove Tejinder Pal and Mongia, and the Lions’ chase looked in disarray at 70 for 4, needing 91 with 47 deliveries remaining.Once Michael Kasprowicz dismissed the dangerous Cairns, the hunt looked all but over for the Lions. They closed at 125 for 8 in their 20 overs, and more importantly lost out on two points in their pursuit of a semi-final spot.

Andrew Symonds, Australia’s pivotal allrounder, looks set to be passedfit for Australia’s crucial Group A encounter against South Africa,although a final decision will be delayed until the eve of Saturday’s match.”He’s pretty much trained unrestricted, or with limited restriction,so they [the selectors] have had a good chance to look at himthemselves,” Alex Kountouris, the team physiotherapist, said. “He’sgoing alright. His batting is unrestricted, his bowling isunrestricted. Most parts of his fielding are unrestricted. He’s comingalong pretty well. We’re just building up his throwing.”The throwing aspect would appear to be the biggest barrier toSymonds’ early recall. Though his recovery from a torn right biceps isahead of schedule, he has been attempting returns of no morethan 25-30 metres which, even on a ground as notoriously small asWarner Park, is short of a full boundary’s length.”From my point of view, I just want to get him right and obviously Iwant it to be 100% but I’m realistic, ” said Kountouris. “He’s hadsurgery not that long ago, so I’m just trying to get him to thehighest possible level that I can, and let the others make thedecision on what he can and can’t do, and whether they want to playhim or not.”We haven’t actually cleared him to play, there’s still a couple morethings that we want him to do until we reach that point and we’vestill got a couple more days to do it. But he’s got a very positiveattitude. He’s not demanding [selection], but he’s confident with whathe can do, which is what you want. You want someone to be positiveafter coming back from a long-term injury.”Symonds is not the only member of the Australian squad who is itchingto get stuck into their first big contest of this World Cup. “The boysare so pumped up for this game, they can’t wait,” Michael Hussey,whose contributions have been limited by the successes of hiscolleagues higher up the order, said. “It’s a huge game and we want to betested. We want a real serious contest and see how it pans out.”Recent Australia-South Africa encounters have been marked by a glut ofcomments flying back and forth between the two camps, but forthis match, the hype has been more measured. “The teams have a healthyrespect for each other,” Hussey said, “but I think they’ve realisedthat that sort of banter doesn’t really work.”You can have all the mind games you want and all the slanging matchesgoing back and forth. But at the end of the day I don’t think itreally works at all. What matters is out on the field. It’s how wellyou play the game. These are two proud countries with two pretty proudhistories. It’s just such an important game.”The short boundaries at Warner Park have raised several eyebrows inthe opening four matches of the tournament, with many punditspredicting record totals in Saturday’s match. “As a batsman you alwayslook at a ground and target certain areas,” Hussey said. “At Auckland,for instance, it’s slightly off-centre for the left-hander, so you lookto adapt. But I don’t change my training too much. I just make surethe basics are in order then practise a few hard-hitting shots at theend.”Even so, Australia will have taken note of the success that Scotland’stail had against South Africa’s death bowlers, Andrew Hall and CharlLangeveldt, clubbing them for 55 runs in five overs on Tuesday. “Idon’t really want to say they’ve got a problem in that area,”Hussey said, “because in one-day cricket and on these grounds you can gothe journey a bit in those last few overs.”We’re going to be targeting a lot of areas, not just one or two. We need a complete game of cricket, because if we don’t comeoff in just one of our areas, we’ll come up short. We’ll be focusingon a full 100 overs, rather than just their death bowling, but for usthere’s going to have to be a little more planning from the bowlingpoint of view. We need to get them to hit the ball in different areas,instead of attacking those straight boundaries.”

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Mitchell Johnson did not get to bat in Queensland’s 6 for 900 declared, but he made sure he left a huge mark on the Pura Cup final with a six wicket-haul and ten for the match as the Bulls won by an innings and 354 runs. Needing a massive 556 to make Queensland bat again, Victoria were dismissed before tea for 202 to give the Bulls their sixth domestic first-class trophy with the biggest margin of victory in a final.The Bushrangers resumed at 2 for 38 in the hope that pride would guide them through the day and achieve an honourable draw. Johnson, who removed both openers late on day four, upset their plans with 6 for 51 and match figures of 10 for 106 to confirm his status as one of the country’s leading bowling prospects.”What a performance on a flat wicket – ten wickets,” Maher, the Man of the Match, told . “How he didn’t get Man of the Match is beyond me. What you saw today was a massive turning point.”Brad Hodge was Johnson’s third victim, caught by Ashley Noffke in the gully for 28, and Johnson returned to rip into the lower order by removing Jon Moss (13), Nathan Pilon (8) and Shane Harwood (3) to make sure of the outright victory. The legspinner Daniel Doran, who picked up 3 for 33, struck with his first ball to hit David Hussey’s off stump on 37 and he also knocked over Cameron White before finishing with the top scorer Nick Jewell for 69.The last wicket was left to Andy Bichel, who forced Dirk Nannes to hit to Lachlan Stevens at short leg for his 50th of the season, and sent the Queenslanders into a celebration they have been planning from the dressing room for days. “They ran into a Queensland side that was hungrier than you’ve ever seen,” Maher said. “The last side that was this hungry was in 1994-95 and we’d never won it then.”The Bulls drove to their mammoth total on a lifeless pitch with centuries to Jimmy Maher (223), Shane Watson (201), Clint Perren (173) and Martin Love (169) in a performance the home players will remember for decades. The loss was Victoria’s worst defeat in their 115-year first-class history. “It definitely hurts,” Cameron White, the Victoria captain, said.

The Pakistan Cricket Board and the Board of Control for Cricket in India have expressed concern over the excessive number of matches between the two countries since cricketing ties resumed in March last year. The two teams have now played 15 one-day internationals and six Tests in the span of one year.Concerned that too many matches might lessen the excitement and charm of an India-Pakistan tie among the fans, Shaharyar Khan, the PCB chairman, said in a Press Trust of India report: “After India complete their tour of Pakistan sometime in January-February next year, the two boards will discuss this issue. We feel perhaps Pakistan and India are playing too much cricket against each other since the revival of cricket ties and we need to reach a bilateral agreement on how much we should play against each other in, say, a five-year cycle.”India toured Pakistan in March last year, which put an end to a four-year freeze in bilateral cricketing ties. This was followed by Pakistan touring India after six years, after which India are scheduled to visit Pakistan for three Tests and five ODIs early next year. In March-April 2006, they will clash again in the Asia Cup in Pakistan.”We don’t want a situation where people will become tired of watching Pakistan-India matches,” Shaharyar said. “We don’t want an excess of these games at any point of time. We have a played a lot against each other in a year’s time.”