ponting delighted by team effort

Ponting continued his own excellent form with 91

Ponting delighted by team effort
Skipper Ricky Ponting praised his side for keeping their heads under pressure after an 83-run win over South Africa.

After setting a target of 378, their bowlers came in for severe punishment as South Africa raced to 220-1 before fading to 294 all out.

"South Africa obviously like chasing, so it was crucial for us to hang in there," Ponting commented.

"The message to the bowlers was if you get hit for a boundary from a good ball don't worry, just get back in there."

Opposite number opted to put Australia in after inning the toss, and Ponting afterwards admitted he would have made the same decision.

"I was going to chase today - on these small grounds with good wickets, sometimes you don't know when you're setting what a good total is.

"At one stage we thought we could 400 - we came up a little bit short of that but otherwise it's been a pretty good game for us," he said.

Hayden turns the ball away for four during his dazzling innings

Ponting hailed Matthew Hayden's 66-ball century as an awesome knock and also praised Shane Watson for a piece of fielding which gave Australia a much needed breakthrough in South Africa's innings.

Watson ran out AB de Villiers for 92 with a direct hit from deep fine leg after he and Graeme Smith had launched the reply with a partnership of 167 - a record first wicket stand for South Africa against Australia in a one-dayer.

"It shows how one ball or one piece of brilliance in the field can change the course of a game - that's what happened today, a great throw from the deep and that just changed the way everything was going for us.

"We bowled well after that and took everything that came our way as a result of that one great piece of fielding," Ponting added.

Hayden, meanwhile, said he had thoroughly enjoyed his innings "from ball one".

He continued: "When I saw the first few balls skip on I thought 'Hang on, we've probably got a pretty good wicket here and by the second third over we were looking to really get off to that flyer that I think we're going to need throughout the Caribbean.

"It's all about power. The game has changed enormously since the [2003] World Cup and teams are just taking the game away with boundary-hitting performances."