Australia in fine shape for final: Ponting

Australia's Ricky Ponting, with two man-of-the-match awards in the triangular one-day series against Pakistan and England, believes his team are peaking perfectly for the tournament final.

Although Australia's fourth round-robin match against Pakistan was washed out at the Riverside ground on Saturday, the fast-scoring Tasmanian said all three components of the side's one-day game had slotted nicely into place.

"We came here with the goal of just making it through to the Lord's final," he said. "In the first couple of games, we probably played a little better than we expected to.

"I think, batting-wise, our first two games were probably just about as good as we can play."

The 1999 World Cup winners beat Pakistan by seven wickets at Cardiff in their opener and then beat England by five wickets at Bristol the following day. In both matches, Ponting was man of the match, with scores of 70 and 102.

WEAK LINK
Captain Steve Waugh, however, identified Australia's bowling as something of a weak link in those first two games, and his bowlers duly responded by dismissing England for 86 in the rain-affected encounter at Old Trafford on Thursday.

"It was one of our best performances with the ball," Ponting said. "We didn't bat as well as we would have liked early on but we got ourselves a fairly respectable target and then bowled and fielded really well.

"The one area we thought we could really improve was our bowling and we've done that now."

"I think the bowlers bowled just about as well as anyone can bowl at Old Trafford. We put the English players under pressure. Sure we might have got the best of the conditions and I think the wicket seamed a bit but I think the bowlers bowled beautifully.

"When you've got Jason Gillespie bowling at 90 mph and hitting the seam every ball, there's going to be a few chances created."

Ponting said Australia were not regarding their last two round-robin games, against Pakistan on Tuesday and England on Thursday, as "dead" fixtures in the build-up to Lord's.

"It's not a dead match as far as we are concerned. We think we can get a bit out of every game that we play, as far as improvement goes, with our rotation system. We are always bringing different players into the side and giving them a chance.

"If you asked someone like Damien Fleming, who was down to play against Pakistan today, if he thought it was dead match or not, I'm sure he would have said no."

WINNING HABIT
Ponting added that Australia would have loved to maintain their winning habit against Pakistan.

"Yes, for sure it was a missed opportunity at Riverside. Every game that you win, obviously makes a psychological dent in the opposition."

For Ponting, the final, a rematch of the 1999 World Cup final, is something special.

"It is pretty exciting. Any game you play at Lord's is exciting. I've only played a couple of games there but I've got good some memories after the World Cup final.

"Hopefully it's the same result."

Mail Cricket Editor