Ricky Ponting believes that his unheralded collection of slow bowlers will seize their World Cup opportunity and make light of the absence of Shane Warne.
KINGSTOWN: Australia skipper Ricky Ponting believes that his unheralded collection of slow bowlers will seize their World Cup opportunity and make light of the absence of the now-retired Shane Warne.
Ponting is eager to see how the likes of Brad Hogg in particular will fare when the pressure is on, starting with a warm-up against old enemy England here on Friday.
Despite having lost their last three matches to the English, Ponting already insists his side have a psychological edge after seeing his team beat Zimbabwe by 106 runs on Tuesday.
"Ours was a better workout than they got," said Ponting after Zimbabwe managed to bat their full 50 overs in making 184-7. The day before England had completed their win over Bermuda inside just 23 overs.
"At this stage of the tournament most teams are looking to get some quality time in the middle and we got through 100 overs on Tuesday."
Zimbabwe never threatened the Australian total of 290-7, giving Ponting time to assess what role Hogg will play in the seven-week World Cup campaign.
Hogg returned tidy figures of 0-36 off eight overs on Tuesday but is still without a wicket in his last six internationals. "We've got to make him relax and get him to bowl the way he can bowl," said Ponting.
"In the last three or four overs against Zimbabwe he did that. He's Australia's best one-day spin bowler. There'll be a lot of opportunities for slow bowlers in this tournament."
The retirement of Warne has left a hole in the Australian line-up.
However, that didn't harm them in 2003 when Warne was ruled out at the start of the World Cup after a failed dope test and they still went on to win the title for a second successive time.
"I thought (Brad) Hodge (1-26 off 6) did a good job for us," added Ponting.
"We've got Michael Clarke who will be able to do a job for us at some stage. If we get Andrew Symonds back I hope he's going to be a big part of that slow-bowling brigade.
"We feel that we've got basically all the bases covered on what we need in a World Cup."
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