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    <title>Business Recorder - Sports</title>
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    <pubDate>Fri, 14 Aug 2026 02:58:04 +0500</pubDate>
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      <title>Cricket: Momentum with Australia, says Ponting</title>
      <link>https://www.brecorder.com/news/2579/cricket-momentum-with-australia-says-ponting</link>
      <description>&lt;p class="MsoPlainText"&gt;&lt;img style="margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px; float: left;" src="https://i.brecorder.com/images/stories/ricky_400.jpg" width="400" height="240" /&gt;BANGALORE:  Australia may not start as strong World Cup favourites but the momentum is with them after their recent one-day success against England, skipper Ricky Ponting said on Friday.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoPlainText"&gt;"At the moment we're in good shape. We've got some really good confidence and a bit of momentum around our team," Ponting told reporters in Bangalore.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoPlainText"&gt;"Our lead-up really couldn't be much better coming into this World Cup, having just beaten a pretty good English side with quite a few of our more senior players not taking part."&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoPlainText"&gt;Australia, seeking a fourth consecutive title, lost the recent Ashes to England at home but bounced back strongly to clinch the following one-day series 6-1.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoPlainText"&gt;Ponting said he was not worried his side were not considered as overwhelming favourites despite enjoying the top ranking in one-day internationals and an enviable record at the showpiece event.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoPlainText"&gt;Australia have not been beaten in their last 29 games (one tied) since their last World Cup defeat to Pakistan at Headingley in 1999.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoPlainText"&gt;"I don't care," Ponting said when asked about the missing favourites tag. "I'm not sure if there's a really hot favourite going into a tournament like this.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoPlainText"&gt;"I don't really care where we start the tournament. It's totally irrelevant. Yes, we are ranked number one but we won't be thinking about that."&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoPlainText"&gt;Ponting however conceded India and South Africa "are probably two of the outstanding teams".&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoPlainText"&gt;The Australian skipper also said he was hopeful of playing in Sunday's opening warm-up game against India in Bangalore despite having missed the one-day series against England due to a broken finger.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoPlainText"&gt;"The next couple of weeks are important for me. To be out of the game for a month going into a World Cup is not a perfect preparation. I have to really focus on my batting and my fielding," said Ponting.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoPlainText"&gt;Australia are in Group A with Sri Lanka, Pakistan, New Zealand, Zimbabwe, Canada and Kenya, with the top four sides making it to the quarter-finals.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;center&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;i&gt;Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2011&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;i&gt; &lt;/i&gt;&lt;/center&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
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      <content:encoded xmlns="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/"><![CDATA[<p class="MsoPlainText"><img style="margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px; float: left;" src="https://i.brecorder.com/images/stories/ricky_400.jpg" width="400" height="240" />BANGALORE:  Australia may not start as strong World Cup favourites but the momentum is with them after their recent one-day success against England, skipper Ricky Ponting said on Friday.</p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">"At the moment we're in good shape. We've got some really good confidence and a bit of momentum around our team," Ponting told reporters in Bangalore.</p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">"Our lead-up really couldn't be much better coming into this World Cup, having just beaten a pretty good English side with quite a few of our more senior players not taking part."</p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Australia, seeking a fourth consecutive title, lost the recent Ashes to England at home but bounced back strongly to clinch the following one-day series 6-1.</p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Ponting said he was not worried his side were not considered as overwhelming favourites despite enjoying the top ranking in one-day internationals and an enviable record at the showpiece event.</p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Australia have not been beaten in their last 29 games (one tied) since their last World Cup defeat to Pakistan at Headingley in 1999.</p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">"I don't care," Ponting said when asked about the missing favourites tag. "I'm not sure if there's a really hot favourite going into a tournament like this.</p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">"I don't really care where we start the tournament. It's totally irrelevant. Yes, we are ranked number one but we won't be thinking about that."</p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Ponting however conceded India and South Africa "are probably two of the outstanding teams".</p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">The Australian skipper also said he was hopeful of playing in Sunday's opening warm-up game against India in Bangalore despite having missed the one-day series against England due to a broken finger.</p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">"The next couple of weeks are important for me. To be out of the game for a month going into a World Cup is not a perfect preparation. I have to really focus on my batting and my fielding," said Ponting.</p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">Australia are in Group A with Sri Lanka, Pakistan, New Zealand, Zimbabwe, Canada and Kenya, with the top four sides making it to the quarter-finals.</p>
<p><center><b><i>Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2011</i></b><i> </i></center></p>
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      <guid>https://www.brecorder.com/news/2579</guid>
      <pubDate>Fri, 11 Feb 2011 07:04:19 +0500</pubDate>
      <author>none@none.com (Shoaib Ur Rehman)</author>
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