By IANS
Hobart : The running battle between Australia and New Zealand continued right till the last game of the Chappell-Hadlee Series that concluded here Thursday.
In a fresh flare-up, Australian skipper Ricky Ponting accused New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori of charging Brad Haddin of deliberately running up the wicket while he was batting to scuff up the pitch.
Ponting could be seen gesticulating at and having a word with Vettori during the 40th over of Australia’s innings, only a few balls into Haddin’s knock, after the stand-in wicketkeeper took off for a single.
After a series marked by sniping about Shaun Tait’s bowling action and vice-captain Adam Gilchrist being rested for the final match, the Australian captain, when asked why he exchanged words with Vettori, said he was disappointed with yet another accusation levelled at his side.
“It wasn’t just Vettori, there were a few more who were involved as well,” he said. “They just had a go at ‘Hads’ for running on the wicket. It was about the third ball that he faced, and he turned one off a spinner and took a couple of steps down the track.”
“I was a bit disappointed to hear some of that stuff, and I just returned a little bit back to them,” said Ponting.
After the match, Vettori played down the incident, saying there was “nothing drastic”.
“It was just guys running on wickets, and you always question umpires about those sorts of things. And there was a bit of banter about who does what and then you go from there,” said Vettori.
Ponting said his team did not use the niggling as motivation.
“It’s water off a duck’s back, that sort stuff around our team. We know what we have to do to prepare and play good cricket. If other teams want to sit back and take what are sometimes pretty ordinary pot shots at us, let them.
“It’s not about what you say, it’s what you do. And I think right at the moment we’re doing things really well, and I’m sure we will through the Indian Test series as well.”