— Photo: S. Subramanium

A SPRING IN THE STEP: Australia will expect a big knock from Adam Gilchrist and his contest with Shane Bond promises to be exciting.

Mohali: Australia is all geared up to face and overcome the semifinal challenge from New Zealand and get closer to a shot at the Champions Trophy that has eluded it for several years. Stung by Jerome Taylor's sensational hat-trick and shocked by the West Indies in a keen tussle at the Brabourne Stadium in the early stages of the tournament, Ricky Ponting's team gathered its wits and sprung back to life, outplaying England and India to finish its group ahead of the West Indies.

The defeat at the hands of the West Indies hurt the Aussies. Another slip and their hopes will be dashed. Fortunately for Australia, every cog in its giant wheel worked to precision against England at Jaipur. A methodical and efficient display against India at Mohali provided further proof of its ambitions to make the knock-out stage.

No excuses

Right through the course of the competition, Ponting has reminded his colleagues that there cannot be excuses for not winning the trophy in their fifth attempt and has made it public that overcoming varying conditions in any part of the world was the strength of his team. Except when it had to raise its intensity and quell England's resistance that emerged in the form of a solid opening stand between Andrew Strauss and Ian Bell, Australia's performances have been far from spectacular. And on Sunday, Ponting scored some useful runs here. It was another bright side in Australia's winning performance against India.

Slow and low pitches

Like most teams which played at Brabourne, Motera or Jaipur, Australia has been encumbered by slow and low pitches. "When you come to India, you normally get a wicket that produces even pace and bounce. But we have been here for ten days and we know what the conditions are going to be like tomorrow. The pitch here has been fast and the ball has bounced and seamed a bit,'' Ponting said at a press conference here on Tuesday.

Ponting also pointed out as to how hard Glenn McGrath had been working on his bowling over the last three weeks and singled out his spell against Sachin Tendulkar.

Thrilling rivalry

A trans-Tasman rivalry has immense potential to produce thrilling cricket. "There's a great rivalry between Australia and New Zealand in any sport. As far as cricketing results go, we have won 15 of the last 17 games in the last few years. We are just going to build on our performance from the other day (against India) and hopefully the result will go our way,'' Ponting said.

He acknowledged Shane Bond's success against himself and against Australia. "He's got an unbelievable strike rate in one-day cricket. We have talked about Stephen Fleming and Kyle Mills's performances in the competition. We also have to work out the right strategies and plans for Jacob Oram, Brendon McCullum and Daniel Vettori. They try and lift themselves against us,'' said Ponting.

Meanwhile, New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming may have to take the field without a key player. "Styris is unlikely to play. Bond picked up a hamstring twinge in the last game. He has a good record against Australia and he's always charged up against the best. The Gilchrist-Bond clash excites me and sets up the game going. We have to see how he shapes up at the nets and hope he will be able to play tomorrow.''

Fleming has so far played two top-notch innings and led by example. "The start of the innings is vital for us.

Lou Vincent and Nathan Astle are close to firing. Vincent has on most occasions come off well against Australia. We have come out of pockets of pressure in the competition. It's important to maintain pressure on Australia who like to turn on the pressure on you by playing aggressive cricket and that's what one has to counter.''

The semifinal will be played on a pitch where South Africa's Makhaya Ntini produced a match-winning spell against Pakistan.

Fleming said, "I don't think the pitch will behave the same way. It has been under the harsh sun for four days. The two teams are different and play different styles of cricket. We have not been good in big tournaments and our performances are measured by how well we play against Australia.''

The teams (from): Australia: Ricky Ponting (captain), Adam Gilchrist, Shane Watson, Damien Martyn, Andrew Symonds, Michael Clarke, Michael Hussey, Brett Lee, Nathan Bracken, Mitchell Johnson, Glenn McGrath, Brad Hogg, Simon Katich, Darren Cullen.

New Zealand: Stephen Fleming (captain), Lou Vincent, Nathan Astle, Hamish Marshall, Peter Fulton, Jacob Oram, Brendon McCullum, Shane Bond, Kyle Mills, Jeetan Patel, Daniel Vettori, James Franklin, Mark Gillespie, Scott Styris.

Umpires: Messrs Steve Bucknor (West Indies) and Rudi Koertzen (South Africa); Third umpire: Mark Benson (England), Fourth umpire: Billy Bowden (New Zealand); Match Referee: Mike Procter (South Africa).

Hours of play: 2.30 p.m. to 6 p.m. and from 6.45 p.m. to close of play..

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