da dobrowin： No praise is too high for this Australian side
David Wiseman12-Mar-2003No praise is too high for this Australian side. They are anincredible one with unparalleled levels of self-belief.It’s hard to think of any side which could afford to do without players of thecalibre of Shane Warne, Jason Gillespie, Shane Watson, Andrew Symonds andboth Waughs, and still be competitive.It’s hard to think of any side being seven for 128 at the 40-over mark and making ascore remotely near 200.The Kiwis must be scratching their heads wondering what went wrong becausenot much did, yet still they lost by 96 runs.The decision to send Australia in was a brave one by Stephen Fleming. Itturned out to be an inspired one as Shane Bond ripped out the heart of theAustralian batting line-up. With Martyn and Bevan getting Australia backinto the game, he returned for a devastating second spell which yielded anadditional three wickets.New Zealand had Australia on their knees. They were bowling to a plan andcatching everything. For them it was a case of déjà vu. In a one-day game atMelbourne in January 2002, New Zealand were defending 245 and had Australiareeling at seven for 143 in the 37th over for Bevan, Lee and Bichel to guide themhome.Unfortunately for Fleming, just when he needed his strike bowlers most, hecouldn’t use them. He had to bowl Australia out for sub-150 knowing fullwell that the wicket would only get harder to bat on as the day went on.This must be a different pitch to the one Australia successfully chased 326on in April 2002.Australia must feel insurmountable now. They have won games they had noright to and are now looking at the prospect of playing Kenya in the semifinal.Assuming no wash outs or ties, the only way Kenya will miss out on the semifinals is if they lose both their remaining games and New Zealand defeatsIndia.New Zealand’s problem arose when they didn’t have a batting approach as sophisticatedas their bowling one. A target of 209 was still a very reachablescore and could easily have been attained with sensible batting.This tournament has thrown up some major surprises to date, but on the basisof what has happened at St George’s Park in the last two games, they wouldbe nothing if Australia do not end up defending their title.