PORT ELIZABETH (South Africa), March 16: Australia captain Ricky Ponting expects Ian Harvey or Andrew Symonds to face a World Cup semifinal heartache.

With batsman Michael Bevan certain to return after missing Saturday’s five-wicket win over Kenya because of lower back soreness, one of the all-rounders seems certain to make way when the side for Tuesday’s match against Sri Lanka is chosen.

“We will have to speak pretty intensely about it over the next few days,” Ponting told reporters.

“Harvey has done nothing wrong and batted very well against Kenya and Symonds has done nothing wrong either and he has batted well too.”

Both players have legitimate claims to play.

Symonds has match-winning potential with the bat, as he showed in Australia’s opening game of the tournament by hammering 143 not out from 125 balls against Pakistan.

However, he missed the two matches ahead of the Kenya clash because of a groin strain and Harvey came in, doing a tidy job with the ball that included an impressive one for 11 against New Zealand on Tuesday at the venue for the semifinal.

The pair were side by side on Saturday as they added an unbroken 61 for the sixth wicket to see Australia home.

Symonds finished 33 not out while Harvey made an unbeaten 28 with both playing calmly when another wicket might have set the alarm bells ringing in the Australia dressing room.

The alternative would be to leave out left-arm wrist spinner Brad Hogg but, with Australia keen to maintain a frontline slow-bowling option, that seems unlikely.

Ponting said the decision between Harvey and Symonds might be made as late as the morning of the match when it was clearer what type of pitch would be produced for the semifinal.

Australia have played twice at St George’s Park during the tournament and the pitches for both were slow, making strokeplay difficult.

Ponting’s hope is that a different part of the square will be used for the semifinal, a part that produced a surface on which his side chased 326 to win a one-day game against South Africa last March.

“We have not been all that happy with the pitches we have played on there,” he said.

“But, talking to the groundsman, the pitch for this game is going to be on a different block from the two pitches we have seen previously and he said he expected it to be better.”

Australia have already beaten Sri Lanka once in this tournament, thrashing them by 96 runs at Centurion Park in the Super Six. That followed three wins in four matches against them during a recent tri-series.

Ponting was confident his players could extend their world-record unbeaten streak to 16 matches and make it to the final in Johannesburg next Sunday.

“We have had success against Sri Lanka of late...we are looking forward to it,” he said.

The Australia captain also believed his side could come to terms with the threat of Sri Lanka spinner Muttiah Muralitharan.—Reuters