“We pride ourselves on big events and big tournaments”

Ponting proud of Australia’s achievement

CENTURION: Winning the second biggest one-day tournament in the world has certainly made not only the Australian team very proud of the achievement but also its captain Ricky Ponting.
“If you look at the Australian cricket team and the ups and downs we’ve been through over the last 18 months I think this is a real positive for us,” said Ponting after Australia had beaten New Zealand by six wickets at Supersports Park here on Monday to retain the ICC Champions trophy which they won in India in 2006.

Ricky Ponting (left) and Shane Watson with the Champions trophy

“It’s great to see we are now getting a bit more experienced with some of the young guys. They are starting to make major impact on the international game as Shane (Watson) has over the last few days. That’s a really good sign for us.
“We pride ourselves on big events and big tournaments. The number of games we had lost in the last couple of World Cups and Champions trophy is only one and that’s terrific. That’s something we can all be very proud of and certainly to be the captain of this side makes me proud as well.”
Ponting said to win a tournament as big as this was a great reward for everyone, whether it was coaches or the players who have been around the group for the last six to seven weeks.
“As soon as the one-dayers kicked off in England it was all about playing well there but we always had one eye on the Champions trophy and to perform well in the tournament, we have been able to do that. Five months on the road it’s been a long time for the boys. It’s been hard work and we played a lot of cricket. We had our ups and downs in those five months and to finish off the way we have and win this tournament is something to celebrate,” he said.
Ponting gave a lot of credit to New Zealand for making it to the final despite the run of injuries they suffered during the tournament.
“A lot of people wouldn’t have thought New Zealand would have been playing in the final of this event especially with some of the injuries they’ve been having throughout the tournament. Daniel Vettori’s done a great job leading them as a player. To lose him today was a major loss for them,” said Ponting.
“Not just with the ball and the bat but to lose your captain going into a big game and such an influential player in the side would have been a psychological blow for them. Today they performed the way we knew they would. They lost early wickets but hung in there and kept themselves in the game. They took a couple of early wickets and thought they had half a chance of winning for quite a while - full credit to them,” he said.
Ponting praised the efforts of two of his young members of the team Shane Watson and Cameron White for getting them over the line after New Zealand had captured two early wickets including that of the captain for just seven runs. “We had a situation here. We are in a big game and we are in a final chasing a low score and we are 2-7. They are two relatively young guys at the crease and to see them stand up and get us across the line was very satisfying. One of the strengths of the Australian team has been if some of the bigger names don’t stand up and get the job done then we would generally find someone who can put their hand up and do it. Today Shane and Cameron did a great job for us.” The pair added 132 runs for the third wicket off 192 balls.