Australia Vs Scotland, Group A

Sometimes, we dream that we are King Henry II and we make proclamations like:

"Who will rid me of this meddlesome batsman?"

And then we wake up and realize that we are not King Henry and Ricky Ponting is still batting.

Readers of this blog might be under the impression that we are not very fond of Ricky Ponting. They would not be wrong. We are not fond of Ricky Ponting the person and Ricky Martin the singer but we are in total awe of Ricky Ponting the batsman. We can readily see why Australians are very fond of him. He is brash, plays hard, says really stupid things (Aussies love that), and for the most part, walks the talk. Non-Australians don't like him for the very same reasons.

We have no doubt that if we were Australian, we would have built a couple of shrines for him by now and would be unable to express ourselves without grunting. Thankfully, we are not. For, who would take care of the shrines we already built for Tendulkar and Sehwag?

In this great Australian team consisting of many match winners, Ponting is the biggest, meanest and the greatest match winner. Like Bob Willis said (yes, the old bore really said this), no other batsman in the Australian side is worthy enough to tie Ponting's shoe laces. Hyperbole? Yes, but it has some truth in it. The secret of Ponting's success according to Nasser Hussain is that:

"He (Ponting) looks to hit every ball he faces. His first instinct is to hit the ball and then, if it's a good ball, he defends. That way, he doesn't lose out on any of the bad balls and even manages to hit a few good ones over the ropes."

Easier said than done but Ponting's talent is such that he can do just that. Ponting's attitude to batting is also his Achilles heel. Because he is always trying to play his shots, he can be vulnerable in the beginning of his innings. Once he gets his eye in, watch out.

Ponting on song is a treat to watch even when he is killing your favorite team (2003 world cup finals. We were traumatised by that match and swore a mighty oath to make fun of Ponting whenever we can). His shot selection and shot making ability is of the highest class and comparable to any of the greatest batsmen of all time.

Ponting and Australia came into this match to show the world that, despite losing some luster in the last few matches by playing uncharacteristically, they are the defending champions of the world cup. Ponting led the way with 113 and Australia powered it's way to a score of 334. Besides the typical heroics from Ponting, Brad Hogg played a brilliant cameo and scored 40 runs in 15 balls with 3 fours and 3 sixes.

Then it was the bowlers turn. Glen McGrath showed that he still had life in his ancient bones and turned in a vintage McGrath display. Pigeon bowled 6 overs for 14 runs and 3 wickets. The Aussies bundled out the Scots for 131 and won by 203 runs.