Australia can finally concentrate on South Africa match

BASSETERRE, St Kitts, March 19 (Reuters) After a seemingly interminable series of net sessions and matches of little competitive interest, world champions Australia can finally concentrate on the biggest first round match of the World Cup.

Australia meet the new world number one side South Africa at Warner Park on Saturday in their final Group A match with two points and a lot of pride at stake.

''Number one against number two, it's going to be a great game of cricket,'' captain Ricky Ponting told a news conference after his side had crushed the Netherlands by 229 runs yesterday.

''When you will see us take the field on Saturday it will be with all guns blazing. We will have to play the best game of cricket we have played for a long time.'' After winning two warm-up games against Zimbabwe and England in St Vincent, Australia have eased their way into the tournament with predictably one-sided victories over Scotland and the Dutch in St Kitts.

Like every Australian side they have made no concessions to the opposition and Ponting was lavish with his praise.

''I think our batting has looked very, very good. I think there's a little room for improvement that you will see on Saturday,'' he said.

''The fielding and the bowling have both been very good. They have made every effort to take wickets and finish the games as early as they can.'' Australia's bowling strategy seems settled. Nathan Bracken will take the new ball with Shaun Tait, who is being used in short bursts to unsettle the batsmen, while Glenn McGrath, only five wickets away from equalling Wasim Akram's World Cup record of 55, bowls first change.

'BOWLED BEAUTIFULLY' Then there is Brad Hogg who perplexed all the Dutch batsmen with his left-arm wrist spin.

''This wicket hasn't turned a lot but Hogg has bowled beautifully here,'' said Ponting. ''He bowled beautifully in a warm-up game against England so he's doing everything that's been asked of him. He feels he's bowling as well as he ever has.'' Dutch captain Luuk van Troost, who has suffered at the hands of both Australia and South Africa in St Kitts, said he thought the sides were evenly matched.

But he, too, thought Hogg could be the difference between the sides.

''Hogg is a brilliant spinner,'' he said. ''Maybe South Africa miss that.'' Australia's only problem at the moment appears to be slotting Andrew Symonds back in to the side when the all-rounder reaches full match fitness after tearing his right biceps muscle in this year's tri-series in Australia.

''We are just going to have to put him through the rigours as much as we can to see if he's ready to play a big crunch game for us,'' Ponting said.

''He's certainly batted for a few weeks and now his batting is pretty much where it needs to be. I think there's probably a little way to go yet with his bowling and throwing.'' REUTERS DH RK2135