The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : ‘Canada got us on the hop a little bit'

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‘Canada got us on the hop a little bit'

Shreedutta Chidananda

Bangalore: Admitting that his side was taken by surprise by Canada's whirlwind start to the innings, Captain Ricky Ponting expressed the belief that Australia was close to hitting peak form in the tournament after the straightforward victory.

“Canada got us on the hop a little bit with the way they started,” he said. “I think we were just a little bit off with the new ball, to one batsman (Hiral Patel) in particular who was pretty savage on anything wide. Against better teams and deeper batting orders, we have to make sure they don't get off to a start like that.”

Ponting also sought to clear the air on his expression of frustration at Steve Smith following the dismissal of Harvir Baidwan. Smith collided with Ponting when the pair attempted to catch Baidwan at mid-off.

The latter completed the catch before banging the ball into the turf in reaction. “It was more about copping a hip-and-shoulder from a 19-year-old trying to pinch a catch off me,” Ponting joked.

“I had a chat with Smithy about it and I think we both actually called for it at the same time, which is why there was the confusion. If anything, I was probably a bit more disappointed that a few of the other guys didn't yell out and make it clear that it was my catch.

“It wasn't a great reaction but it wasn't designed to inspire the team or make Steven look silly. It just happened in the heat of the battle. If it looked bad, then I apologise for it.”

Canada skipper Ashish Bagai, meanwhile, rued his side's failure to capitalise on its fine start. “I'm very disappointed with the total,” he said.

“We won the toss, got to bat on a good deck, built a decent foundation. So it's disappointing that we collapsed after that. With a little more experience, we would have got to 280 or 290. We need to get more exposure at this level.”

Man-of-the-match Shane Watson also explained his decision to go after the bowling immediately after the end of the batting Power Play. “I hardly hit one from the middle of the bat to start with,” he said.

“So I felt like I had to do something to try and speed up the game a little bit. I just knew with the smaller boundary on the leg-side against the leg-spinner that it was time to take him on a bit, and it worked out pretty well.”

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