Former Australian World Cup-winning skipper Ricky Ponting, who has served as an assistant coach to Justin Langer for Aussies ICC World Cup 2019 campaign maintained that Australia had done pretty well when it came to the tactics.
Earlier, Aaron Finch-led side had faced an eight-wicket loss against hosts in the second semi-final at the Edgbaston in Birmingham on July 11 (Thursday).
Ahead of the semis, Australia had lost their last league game against South Africa by ten runs.
Australia lost the World Cup semis for the first time:
Ponting had admitted the fact that Australia has lost the momentum by playing ‘worst cricket’ in crucial moments of the game.
“Unusually for Australian teams in World Cups, we played our worst cricket in the most critical moments. That’ll be the thing that gets spoken about the most and see if there’s any reason behind it,” IANS quoted Ponting as saying.
The two-time World Cup Ponting conceded that they’d picked the best line-up they could’ve for each of their games. He added, that he personally thinks that they hadn’t done anything wrong when it came to the strategy.
“Tactically, I think we got things right. Personnel-wise, we picked the best team that we could for every game,” Ponting added.
Earlier, in the league stage fixtures, Australia had finished on the second by claiming 14 points in nine matches. Apart from the Proteas, the Kangaroos lost their game against India on the ninth of June.
Overall, the reigning champions have ticked all the boxes.
England had a chance to create history:
While speaking about England’s success in the ODI format, Ponting added the finale will either have an impact or have an ‘adverse effect’ on their home-bound Ashes campaign. He asserted that if they went on to win their maiden World Cup, then they carry forward that momentum.
“It probably does, to be honest. The country will be on a bit of a wave and a bit of a high, the players will certainly be on a huge high after that World Cup. But who knows if they don’t (win), it might have an adverse effect on their Ashes campaign as well. But I’m sure if they happen to win the World Cup, they’ll take as much as they can from it going into the Ashes,” he concluded.
As Australia’s World Cup campaign is over, they will face the Three Lions in the traditional Ashes series which will get underway on August 1 at the Edgbaston.
