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| April 23, 2006 | Sunday | Rabi-ul-Awwal 24, 1427 |
Ponting set to regain one-day crown
CHITTAGONG (Bangladesh), April 22: Australia skipper Ricky Ponting is set to regain his top ranking in one-day cricket when his team clash with Bangladesh in the three-match series starting here on Sunday.
Ponting lost the number-one slot early this week to India's Mahendra Dhoni, who is just one point ahead of the Australian at 806. The Indian wicketkeeper-batsman plays his next one-dayer in the West Indies in May.
Australia start strong favourities to complete a double, having already beaten the hosts 2-0 in a recent Test series after surviving a scare in the opening match at Fatullah.
Bangladesh were just three wickets short of pulling off one of the major upsets in Test cricket before Ponting came to his team's rescue with an unbeaten century.
Australia eventually won the first Test by three wickets before reasserting their superiority with an innings victory in the second match here.
The tourists have four batsmen ranked in the top 10 in one-day cricket. Ponting (second) is followed by Adam Gilchrist (third), Andrew Symonds (fourth) and Michael Hussey (sixth).
But they would like to forget their last one-dayer against South Africa at Johannesburg where they failed to defend a total of 434 to lose by one wicket in March.
Australian off-spinner Dan Cullen is set to make his one-day debut on a pitch expected to favour slow bowlers.
“We have got two spinners in Brad Hogg and Cullen who we think will suit the conditions,” Ponting said.
Bangladesh, who stunned Australia in a triangular series match at Cardiff last year, have been doing well in recent one-dayers at home.
They beat Sri Lanka in one of the three matches before blanking Kenya 4-0, the successes enabling them to qualify for this year's Champions Trophy in India.
The hosts made two changes from the teams which lost the Test series, bringing in batsman Tushar Imran and seamer Syed Rasel in place of Enamul Haque and Abdur Razzak. —AFP
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