Aussie relentless march shakes Sri Lanka, New Zealand

St George's, Grenada, Apr 14 (UNI) Though Australia routed Ireland in Barbados, the impact of the victory was felt here as skipper Ricky Ponting made it clear that his thoughts were already in the renada National Stadium.

Australia, who had sealed their semi-final berth with 10 points from their four games in the Super Eights, play Sri Lanka and New Zealand here in their last two league matches.

''We've achieved what we wanted to achieve so far. I couldn't be happier with the guys' one-day skills at the moment, and I think you'll see us play some more very good matches before we go home,'' said a confident Aussie skipper Ricky Ponting.

''It's the business end of the World Cup for us now, and we'll get a better measure of where we're after the next two games. We've got two very big matches before the semi-finals in very different conditions to Barbados, and we'll have to adapt quickly,'' said Ponting.

Commenting on his chances of entering the record books by achieving a hat-trick of World Cup titles, he said, ''We've got a good record down the years of stringing together consecutive wins, whether it's in Test matches or one-dayers, and we're on a very good run at the moment.'' When on-field presenter Tony Cozier asked if the law of averages was due to catch up with his side, the Aussie skipper grinned and with the smile of a hungry wolf only said, ''Let's see''.

Meanwhile, New Zealand skipper Stephen Fleming was at pains to defend his team's defensive and unimaginative approach against Sri Lanka here in a game that saw the Kiwis lose their unbeaten streak in the tournament.

''It's a fine line. You could lose 30 or 40 runs just like that in a tight game and that's going to affect the run-rate massively down the track,'' he said.

In the game against Sri Lanka Fleming was seen defending his stifling tactics, instead of opting to pry out the Lankan batsmen, as a result of which he also delayed taking his powerplay options.

''You're dumb if you don't think about the net run-rate. As a captain you've got to look at all scenarios but by no means was there a question of giving the game up. I wasn't willing to take the 10 powerplay overs and lose the game in the 38th over when we could have stretched it out for another eight overs,'' he said.

The Kiwis play their last two Super Eights games here, against fourth-placed South Africa on Saturday and league toppers Australia next Friday, to seal a semi-final berth.

However, Kiwi captain-in-waiting and the man widely regarded as the world's best left-arm spinner, Daniel Vettori, notched up a personal milestone even as his side crashed to a resounding six-wicket defeat to Sri Lanka in the Super Eights.

Vettori became the third New Zealand bowler to take 200 or more one-day wickets with his 2/35 against the Lions.

Poised to join Chris Harris (203) and Chris Cairns (200) after his four-wicket haul against Ireland in Guyana, the lanky, bespectacled spinner joined the elite club when he had Sri Lanka skipper Mahela Jayawardene caught by substitute Hamish Marshall.

Vettori then went one better when he tricked the in-form Chamara Silva into lofting a shot to Shane Bond in the deep for his 201st scalp. He was earlier quoted as having told a New Zealand newspaper that he was not sure how the opposition would approach the task of facing up to him.

''Teams seem to go either one way or the other. They want to either block me or smash me, and that ends up a bit of a balancing act. I'm wondering if the three major sides might try and preserve wickets against me this time, but we'll have to wait and see,'' he had said.

UNI