BASSETERRE (St Kitts), July 3: Ricky Ponting has played down talk of Australia sweeping the West Indies in a One-day International series for the first time in the Caribbean.
Australia lead the five-match ODI series 3-0, after winning the opening ODI by 84 runs in St Vincent, as well as the second and third ODIs by 63 runs under the Duckworth-Lewis Method and seven wickets respectively in Grenada.
South Africa and Pakistan achieved ODI series sweeps in the Caribbean three years ago.
“We have been pretty impressive,” Ponting said. “We did not get everything our way in the series, but I think the second and third ODIs were probably our best performances.”
But Ponting, the Australia captain, is not prepared to predict a result for the fourth ODI on Friday at Warner Park, or for the final ODI on Sunday at the same venue.
“We have been here to the Caribbean before, and been in this situation, and lost the last few matches, so we have to make sure that we are focussed and ready for Friday’s game first before we get to Sunday, and anything consideration about a 5-0,” he stated.
Meanwhile, West Indies captain Chris Gayle has acknowledged that his side has performed way below par, and they need to end the series on a high note.
SQUADS:
WEST INDIES (from): Chris Gayle (captain), Ramnaresh Sarwan (vice-captain), Dwayne Bravo, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Fidel Edwards, Shawn Findlay, Andre Fletcher, Xavier Marshall, Nikita Miller, Daren Powell, Denesh Ramdin, Kemar Roach, Darren Sammy.
AUSTRALIA (from): Ricky Ponting (captain), Michael Clarke (vice-captain), Nathan Bracken, Stuart Clark, Brad Haddin, James Hopes, David Hussey, Michael Hussey, Mitchell Johnson, Brett Lee, Shaun Marsh, Luke Ronchi, Andrew Symonds, Shane Watson, Cameron White.
UMPIRES: Asad Rauf (Pakistan) and Steve Bucknor (West Indies).
TV UMPIRE: Norman Malcolm (West Indies).MATCH REFEREE: Roshan Mahanama (Sri Lanka).—AFP
