UTRECHT, Aug 22: Australia captain Ricky Ponting said he was looking forward to playing cricket in the Netherlands after facing the country's cricketers at last year's World Cup. The world champions make their debut in the tournament against India in Amstelveen on Monday.

Although the Netherlands are not playing in the tournament proper (they face Pakistan in a one-off match on Aug 30 two days after the final), Ponting speaking at training at the Kampong Cricket Club here Sunday said the event would be important for cricket in the country.

And the star batsman added he had fond memories of the Dutch team following Australia's 75-run World Cup win against them at Potchefstroom in South Africa last year. "Dutch cricket is very eager to learn," said Ponting. "This time it's in an operational sense but we've seen it when they fielded a side at the World Cup.

"They are all very keen cricketers and we spent a great deal of time talking to them in the rooms after the game. "This country has a real sporting culture. We see it in hockey and soccer so it would be great to see cricket take off here."

Australia make their tri-series debut against India on Monday and Ponting said it formed an important part of their plans ahead of next month's ICC Champions Trophy tournament in England.

"As is the case with every series we play in, we are going out to win it. It's really good team preparation for the ICC Champions Trophy which is very important to us. "It's the second biggest one-day tournament we play in. We haven't won it before and we really want to do the business this time round. -AFP