Ponting questions SL decision

Australian captain Ricky Ponting has questioned the logic behind Sri Lanka’s decision to rest its two best bowlers, Chaminda Vaas and Muttiah Muralitharan, against Australia.

“They’ve got to take a big loss like that into a semi-final game just around the corner,” said Ponting.

“If we play them again they have to bounce back from what we’ve done to them

“We won with eight overs to spare so that’s a pretty big loss for the next time they have to front up against us.”

Australia continued their undefeated streak in the World Cup after defeating Sri Lanka by seven wickets after a clinical display with the bat and the ball.

“I would have thought it was a good opportunity for him to have a crack at our batsmen,” Ponting continued.

“It doesn’t worry our batters at all. We have played him a lot, have lots of footage on him, and know pretty much the way he goes about things.

“We play him as well as anybody around the world and it would have been a good opportunity for him to get stuck into us and take some wickets.”

Andrew Symonds also revealed his surprise at learning the news that Vaas and Muralitharan would not be playing not long before the game.

“It’s not the way we would have done it but they’re a different team,” he said after making an unbeaten 63.

“They are key players. It can affect confidence when you do that.”