World all-stars in do-or-die game with Aussies
MELBOURNE, Australia, Thursday (AFP)
The world team must bat patiently and build more partnerships if it
is to keep the one-day Super Series alive, New Zealander Daniel Vettori
said here Thursday.
Australia, smarting from the universal criticism of last month's
Ashes failure in England, crushed the cream of world cricket to claim
the opening match by 93 runs on Wednesday and can take the series with
victory in Friday's second game.
The motivated Australians hit 255 for eight off their 50 overs and
then ran through the world all-stars for 162 in 41.3 overs in a massive
anti-climax.
"The biggest thing is that we wanted to bat in partnerships, we
thought we may have tried to win the game too early and with such a
star-studded batting lineup the guys are used to taking responsibility
on themselves to win games," said Vettori, one of the few world stars to
impress.
"I think with so many great batsmen you can take your time a bit more
and build partnerships and that's what wins most cricket games."
The left-arm spinner, who captured 4-33 off 10 overs, scored 15 and
took a great diving catch for the world team, said the Super Series
concept was in jeopardy if the world XI did not win the second match of
the three-game series.
"If we lose like that again we're going to be hugely disappointed but
we're confident we can turn it around and turn it around quickly,"
Vettori told reporters Thursday. "We realise how important it is that we
put up a much-improved showing in the next game.
"For the series to be a success, people want to see a 2-1 result
whichever way it goes and a close-fought Test match (in Sydney next
week) for it to have some meaning, and that's what we're certainly here
for and we're going to try and turn that around as quickly as possible."
Vettori countered suggestions that the world team did not appear to
have the same intensity as Ricky Ponting's team in the opening game and
that they looked like they were a collection of players drawn from
different continents and time zones.
"There was an immense desire in our team to win. We talked a lot
about coming here and the only reason we were coming here was to win,"
he said."There's been a lot of us who have been on the receiving end of
hidings from Australia in the past and this was our chance to put that
right.
"We saw that Australia came out with a huge amount of intensity but
by no means were we not wanting to win as much as they were." World
skipper Shaun Pollock is expecting a big turnaround from his players in
the pivotal game after only four batsmen broke double-figures - Kumar
Sangakkara with 64 off 96 balls and Ashes hero Andrew Flintoff's 38
being the best performers.
"It's not that you lose, but in the manner you lose and for us to be
seven or eight down for not much at all was probably the most
disappointing part about tonight's game," Pollock said.
"You have to give them the opportunity to fight back. But it's not
really about team selection, it's about mentally that we come out all
prepared and do the job well and that's the biggest challenge for us."
Australian captain Ponting, who has received most of the stick from
the Ashes loss, summed up the team's fighting mood after Wednesday's
win.
"We've all worn a bit and copped a bit since we've come back about
the way the team performed in England, which some was fair and some was
a little unfair," he said. |