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| March 9, 2003 | Sunday | Muharram 5, 1424 |
Ruthless Australians take aim at rival skippers
JOHANNESBURG, March 8: When Brett Lee sent Sanath Jayasuriya to hospital on Friday, he opened up another front in Australia’s relentless World Cup campaign.
The message was clear — target the skipper and the rest will follow.
Chasing 320 to win, Jayasuriya retired hurt after being hit on the forearm with a 150kmh special and before they had time to recover, they were shaking at 48-4 on their way to a 96-run defeat.
“You don’t want to see anybody getting seriously injured, but it is the World Cup and if it’s going to stop him scoring runs, then we’ll bowl there,” said Australian captain Ricky Ponting in no mood to be contrite.
X-rays did not reveal a fracture but a chipped bone in the thumb kept Jayasuriya out of the rest of the game and possibly the rest of the tournament.
“We’re trying to bowl where their batsmen are least likely to score. If that happens to be at the body then it will be at the body. We knew Jayasuriya is weak in that area and when you bowl at his body he tends to wriggle.
“We’re not going to go out there and bowl him wide ones because he’s going to smack us over cover or point every time — that’s a weakness in his game and we’ve picked up on that of late.
“That is one main things in our approach — target the weakness of the opponents and we did the same against Sri Lanka.”
Lee is used to the role as a strike weapon.
As recently as October, Pakistan’s Abdul Razzaq suffered a fractured wrist and was out for six weeks after coming off worst against him in a Test match in Sharjah.
Now, next in the firing line will be Stephen Fleming, the skipper of New Zealand who face the world champions at Port Elizabeth on Tuesday.
“We need to put pressure on Stephen Fleming. He made a sensational century against South Africa,” said Ponting, promising no let-up in his team’s efforts despite a place in the semifinals already being assured.
“Fleming is playing well at the top of the order. New Zealand have played some good cricket and we have a rivalry with them.”
Despite a record run of 13 successive One-day International wins under their belts, Ponting has demanded more of the same against the Black Caps on Tuesday and again against Kenya in Durban next Saturday as they go through the motions of completing their Super Six campaign.
“We will pick the best side for Port Elizabeth,” said Ponting.
“Although we haven’t spoken about winning all the matches in the World Cup, it would be nice if we could do that. It might not happen, but our preparations will be excellent.
“We are always striving to improve and we have the individuals here who are inclined to improve all the time whether it’s in the nets or in the match.
“Of course, we can be beaten. We could have lost to England last week and if we don’t capitalise on our chances, then we can lose.”—AFP
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