GRENADA: CRICKET: Players post-match comments following Australia's defeat of New Zealand in the Cricket World Cup

Australia demolished New Zealand by a record 215 runs on Friday (April 20) in their final World Cup Super Eights match. The previous highest winning margin between two test nations was 202 recorded by England against India in a 60 overs match at the first tournament in 1975. "To play the game we have today, it appears it's all coming together at the right time for us. So we are really happy the way things are going, we have a day off from cricket tomorrow to get away from cricket for a while, then we travel to St Lucia and start enjoying the build up and hype around a world cup semi-final. It's a real exciting time and one i know all the guys in the Australian dressing room are looking forward to", said Australian Captain Ricky Ponting . Matthew Hayden (103), Ricky Ponting (66) and Shane Watson (65 from 32 balls) set up Australia's 348 for six. New Zealand could manage only 133 from just under 26 overs in reply with opener Peter Fulton last man out for 62. "It's now on the line, they (South Africa) play a very similar brand of cricket to what Australia does and we pipped them during the initial stages of the tournament, but we are here to win a world cup. That's what we set out to do, that's been our objective throughout the tournament, Hayden told reporters." Both teams had already qualified for separate semi-finals next week and could meet again in the final in Barbados on April 28. Both Ponting and New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming paid tribute to West Indies legend Brian Lara on Friday "He has always been a wonderful player and a wonderful ambassador to the game as well. His played the game in a very good spirit, but also played it in a very entertaining way. I heard him give a quote, saying that he wanted to be an entertainer and he was everything and more in that sense. He was a player that created interest in New Zealand and around the world, so he brought players to the game. As a left hander in my view, he was inspirational, he was a wonderful player to watch and play against and sad to see him go." Fleming said Both teams had already qualified for separate semi-finals next week and could meet again in the final in Barbados on April 28.

ITN Source | April 22, 2007

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