By IANS,
Sydney : Australian skipper Ricky Ponting admitted that his team’s performance is not as sharp as used to be in the past decade but insisted that they still hold the edge over their opponents.
“We are probably not demolishing sides like we might have two years ago, but we’re grinding teams down and winning Test matches, and we’re doing it well,” Ponting was quoted as saying in the Sydney Morning Herald Wednesday.
“It’s a different time for the team. You go in the changing room and you look at the team and it is a bit different to four years ago. But we are winning games and that’s something I am really happy about,” he said.
The Frank Worrell Trophy series against West Indies was Australia’s first overseas triumph since the retirement of their veteran core. But perhaps the most satisfying aspect of the series victory for Ponting was the adaptability shown by his young side on wickets different from those in Australia.
The debutant left arm spinner Beau Casson, who finished with the solid second innings figures of 3-86 from 25 overs in the third Test, earned the praises from his skipper.
“I thought he got better and better as the game went on,” Ponting said. “What you want from your spinner on day five is to get you those crucial breakthroughs, and he got those for us. That was a top debut, for him.”