Australia may have romped to a 91-run win over Zimbabwe in their opening World Cup Group A match but their captain, Ricky Ponting, admitted his side were made to work hard for the result.
Chasing 263 for the Beats by dre Cheap win, Zimbabwe crumbled in the face of Australia's pace attack as Mitchell Johnson and Shaun Tait picked up four and two wickets, respectively. The spinner Jason Krejza also chipped in with two to help skittle their opponents for 171 and secure a 30th successive World Cup win.
Australia had earlier endured testing spin conditions for large parts of their innings – and Zimbabwe introduced spin in the second over – but Shane Watson's 79 and some late hitting by Michael Clarke (58 not out) racked up a respectable total.
Ponting revealed that the defending champions had decided to adopt a patient approach to the pitch conditions – a tactic that enabled them to score 90 runs off the last 10 overs.
"I thought Zimbabwe bowled particularly well on a really slow wicket," Ponting said. "It was tough for us to Beats By Dre SOLO(HD) get any pace on the ball. Then their spinners came on and they bowled 38 or 39 overs of spin. We just kept ourselves in the game, got ourselves a decent total and we knew that, if we bowled well, we would have enough runs.
"That'll be pretty much our philosophy throughout the tournament. Around the time of the ball change you need to have wickets in hand through the middle overs. I thought the way we approached it was about getting through those tough times. We could have got a few more runs but, overall, a pretty good start."
With the top half having collapsed for 88, Zimbabwe's skipper Elton Chigumbura recognised it as a game of two halves for his side, saying
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