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AHMEDABAD, FEBRU-ARY 20 (PTI): Ricky Pon-ting will create the Austra-lian record of making most appearances in World Cup matches when he will take fi eld against Zimbabwe on Monday and will overtake former teammate Glenn McGrath in the process.

Ponting, who is also eying rare feat of winning three World Cup trophies as skipper, is tied with Mc-Grath on 39 appearances till date. West Indies` leg-end Clive Lloyd led his country to two World Cup title. Ponting said he was unaware of this upcoming landmark. "I did not know about it (about 39 appear-ances in Cup). These are nice things to look back upon. But I`m excited to be playing cricket again after

AUS vs ZIMMon | 21 Feb | 02:30 PM

Sardar Patel Gujarat Stadium, Motera

TODAY'S MATCH

Ricky Ponting to play 40th World Cup matchPonting supports ICC decision on 10-team World cup in 2015AHMEDABAD, FEBRUARY 20 (PTI): The highly de-bated decision of International Cricket Council to prune down the number of World Cup participants to ten full members in 2015 today got the backing of Australian cap-tain Ricky Ponting who said the tournament belonged to the elite members. "I have always been unsure if the World Cup and Champions Trophy are the right place for small nations. And I am not sure how much these teams actually learn when they are hammered in contests," Pon-ting said here ahead of his team's World Cup lung opener against Zimbabwe at Motera Stadium. Ponting felt that the World Cup should be a tournament for fewer teams and making efforts to develop the game worldwide should not necessarily mean that smaller nations be allowed to take part in the flagship event. "You need to bring on some of these small nations into the world of cricket.

MELBOURNE, FEBRU-ARY 20 (ANI): Taking a swipe at Australia ahead of their World Cup open-er against Zimbabwe in Ahmedabad, former Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly has labeled Ricky Ponting’s side worse than crisis-stricken Pakistan. He further said that he hopes to see anoth-er rival torpedo Australia’s bid for a fourth consecutive World Cup crown.

Ganguly is known for his jibes against Austra-lia and the former skipper said that the Australian team is no more invinci-ble. Australia go into this tournament as the world’s No.1 ranked one-day side, but Ganguly believes their World Cup dynasty is about to come crashing

down following their dis-mal 3-1 Ashes defeat.

“The days of Austra-lian dominance seem to be over. Ricky Ponting has not dropped a game as cap-tain. But this current team doesn’t look as formidable and their confi dence seems to have taken a beating, especially with the heavy Ashes defeat,” Ganguly said. “Their performances in the two warm-up games have been very ordinary. It’s go-ing to be a huge cricket ex-travaganza for the next 45 days and I hope we see a new champion,” a website quoted him, as saying. Gan-guly also said that the strug-gling Pakistan team, rocked by the match-fi xing saga, is a better one-day team than the Australians.

“This World Cup is an even platform and, as of today, the three best teams along with India are South Africa, Sri Lanka and Paki-stan,” Ganguly wrote in a newspaper column. “So, where does Australia go from here? Three consecu-tive World Cup wins mean they surely have the ability to rise to the occasion in big tournaments. They re-ally have to lift their game to be successful. They play in Sri Lanka where the wickets will turn and how well they handle it will be the biggest challenge for them,” he wrote. “Their success will depend on how David Hussey, Callum Ferguson, Cameron White and Steve Smith deliver,” Ganguly added.

CHENNAI, FEBRUARY 20 (PTI): Pacer Hamish Bennett picked up a ca-reer-best four-wicket haul as New Zealand trounced Kenya by 10 wickets in a to-tally lop-sided World Cup Group A encounter here on Sunday. Electing to bat fi rst, the Kenyans were sent packing for their lowest World Cup total of 69 in just 23.5 overs before the Kiwis overhauled the paltry tar-get in eight overs. With just 31.5 overs played, it was less than a third of what a full cricket one-dayer would be.

Kiwi opener Martin Guptill and Brendon Mc-Cullum scored quick-fire knocks of 39 and 26 respec-tively to take their team home within three hours. Earlier, Bennett was the wrecker-in-chief for New Zealand, who came into the mega-event rather low on confidence after los-ing successive ODI series to Bangladesh and India a few months ago. His four wickets were instrumental in reducing the Kenyans to

their lowest score after the 104 against the West Indies in the 2003 World Cup. This was also the fi fth lowest by any team in the World Cup history.

Playing only his ninth ODI for New Zealand after taking 11 wickets from six matches against Pakistan at home recently, Bennett ripped through the clue-less Kenyan batting line-up by claiming four wickets in the space of 10 balls as his dream fi rst spell read 5-0-16-4. Bennett`s earlier best came a fortnight ago against Pakistan in Auckland when he took 4 for 46.

Bennett`s pace partners, Tim Southee (3/13) and Ja-cob Oram (3/2) shared the other six Kenyan wickets. For Kenya, only three bats-men - opener Seren Waters (16), Collins Obuya (14) and Indian-origin Rakep Patel (16 not out) -got into double fi gures.

Such was the capitula-tion that the last three Ke-nyan players - Nejhemiah Odhiam, Shem Ngoche and

NZ take fl ight in World Cup, thrash Kenya by 10 wkts

Kenya's Nehemiah Odhiambo's stumps fl y as he is bowled during the Cricket World Cup match between New Zealand and Kenya in Chennai on February 20. (AP Photo)

Elijah Otieno -- departed without even disturbing the scorecard.

The Kenyans, opting to bat first on a grass-less wicket, were totally ex-posed and they lacked tech-nical prowess mostly go-ing across to get rapped on their pads. Their top five batsmen were adjudged leg before including Mau-rice Ouma, who went in for a referral, which only con-fi rmed the umpire`s origi-nal decision.

As the match started, the openers, Alex Obanda and Waters were seen to be well up to their task taking time to analyse the condi-tions and plodded to get their eyes in while stealing some quick singles.

New Zealand Captain Daniel Vettori decided to open the attack with both pace and spin in operation, bringing in Nathan McCul-lum from the far end. But it was Southee, who provided the first breakthrough by dismissing Obanda leg be-fore. Obanda, who misread

the angle of a good length delivery, made 6.

Thereafter, it was Ben-nett who ruled the roost dismissing Waters, the ex-perienced Steve Tikolo (2), who is playing his fi fth world cup, Obuya and Mau-rice Ouma (1). With the top fi ve batsmen wilting under pressure, the remaining fi ve batsmen added just 20 runs and Oram polished o� the tail in quick time.

The chase was never meant to cause much hassle for the Kiwi batsmen and Brendon McCullum and Martin Guptill went after the Kenyan bowling attack from the very start. While Guptill`s 39 runs came off 32 balls, including five fours and a couple of sixes, McCullum took 17 balls to knock o� his 26 runs, 16 of which came in boundaries.

Nehemiah Odhiambo ended up being the costli-est of the Kenyan bowlers, conceding 21 runs in his two overs, while Thomas Odoyo was no better, giving away 25 runs in his three overs.

World Cup semi and fi nal tickets on sale from MondayMUMBAI, FEBRUARY 20 (AGENCIES): Crick-et fans can fi nally get their chance to buy World Cup semi-fi nals and fi nal tickets from Monday when they go on sale for the fi rst time, the International Cricket Council (ICC) said. "A certain amount of tickets will go on sale online with our o� cial ticket agents Kyazo-onga," the ICC spokesman said. Although the knock-out stages do not begin until March 23, there is likely to be a scramble for the semi-fi nal (March 29 and 30) and the fi nal (April 2) tickets after favourites India began their 2011 campaign with a resounding 87-run win over co-hosts Bangladesh.

Oz team is worse than crisis stricken Pakistan: Ganguly

5-6 weeks on the sidelines. The real test starts now. Let`s see how far we can go from here," said the Tas-

manian, who has scored 1537 runs at an average of just over 48, in previous editions.

Ponting is back to play-ing competitive cricket af-ter a finger injury forced him to miss the ODI series

DHAKA, FEBRUARY 20 (PTI): Sachin Tendulkar`s run-out due to a mix-up was perhaps the only low point of Virender Sehwag`s scintillating knock against Bangladesh but the Indian opener said his senior partner took the dismissal in his stride as, for him, winning the game was more important. "He was calling, and I was not listen-ing, and I was looking at the ball," Man of the Match Sehwag said after the 87-run triumph over Bangladesh in the World Cup opener,

during which he smashed 175 o� just 140 balls."But when I went to the dressing room, he said: `It`s okay.

What`s important is to win the game for the country. It`s not im-portant who is performing,`" Sehwag recalled.

Sehwag and Tendulkar had put on 69 by the 11th over when the run-out happened. Tendulkar charged down the wicket after driving a ball but Sehwag did not respond as he was busy looking in ball`s direction. Both the batsmen ended up at the non-striker`s end and Bangladesh skipper Shakib Al Hasan`s direct throw to the wicket-keeper led to Tendulkar`s dis-missal for 28. Sehwag said the win has maintained the mo-mentum that the team carried from back-to-back wins in the practice games against Australia and New Zealand.

"It is so important to have momentum going your way. If you don`t have it, you tend to lose matches a lot more. We have been very consistent in the three games we have

played so far and this will help us play better as the tourna-ment goes on. It`s been really good so far," he said.

The 32-year-old batted for 47 overs in Saturday`s game and plans to last the full 50 overs in the coming matches.

"When I came back (to the dressing room), three overs were left, and I still had 25 to get. I would have had to play 15 out of

those 18 balls, so I wasn`t thinking of the double-hundred," he said "My target was to bat 50 overs, no matter how much I score,"

he added. Hardly the one to mince words when it comes to express-ing himself, Sehwag said pacer S Sreesanth, who conceded 53 runs in his fi ve overs, did not bowl well in the match. "No team likes to lose, and neither do we. So this was a very important game for us. Every-one did well, other than Sreesanth," he said.

Sachin said it's okay: Sehwag on run-out in Bangla match

KARACHI, FEBRUARY 20 (PTI): Former Pakistan captain Javed Miandad is re-lieved that his record of six World Cup appearances - the most by any cricketer - has been equalled by a legend like Sachin Tendulkar. The ongo-ing World Cup is Tendulkar's sixth, whose fi rst appearance in the quadrennial extrava-ganza came way back in 1992 in Australia and New Zealand. "It is always good when a great player manages to equal or surpass a record set by you. I am happy Tendulkar has equalled my record of World

Cup appearances. Given his dedication and commitment he deserves this honor," Mi-andad said on Sunday.

The former great, who played in World Cups from 1975 to 1996, said he knew from experience just how much hard work and com-mitment was needed to play on for so long. "I think it just shows how passionate Ten-dulkar is about his game and career. I congratulate him be-cause he has worked hard. He is an example for youngsters." Miandad also has no doubts that Tendulkar is among the

top batsmen in cricket history. "I don't need to say this as his records speak for itself and the way he is going he will achieve many more," Miandad added. Miandad, who played his fi rst World Cup at the age of 18, wit-nessed the Test debut of a 16-year old Tendulkar in the Ka-rachi game in 1989. "To keep on going for so long, it is amaz-ing and I think his one burn-ing ambition will now be to help India win this World Cup. This is one glory he has not got as yet. His form will be crucial to India's chances of winning the tournament."

MS Dhoni watches National Games in Ranchi, thanks BCCIRANCHI, FEBRUARY 20 (AGENCIES): A day after India defeated Bangladesh by 87 runs in the cricket World Cup opener, skipper Mahen-dra Singh Dhoni fl ew to his hometown Ranchi in Jharkhand for a day to watch the 34th National Games. Speaking to reporters at Birsa Munda Football Stadium, Dhoni thanked the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and the Inter-national Cricket Council (ICC) for allowing him to come here for a day. He watched a football match between Jharkhand and Goa along with Deputy Chief Minister Sudesh Mahto. Dhoni said that it was a proud moment for him to be part of the spec-tacular National Games organized in his state. Dhoni added that the infrastructure created for the games is of the highest international standards and at par with the best in this part of the world.

Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar stretches on the ground during a training session. (AP Photo)

'I'm happy Sachin has equalled my WC record'

against England at home that Australia won 6-1 un-der his deputy Michael Clarke. Clarke is also on the cusp of a personal land-mark as he need 72 more runs to complete 6000 runs in ODIs and become the ninth Australian to do so.

Australia also won the previous meeting against Zimbabwe at this venue, by 13 runs in 1998, and Monday’s clash would be the 28th between the two, with the former coming out trumps on all occasions barring the 1983 World Cup tie at Nottingham. There was no result in one match. The ODI match at this ven-ue is also the ninth fi xture played under lights with teams batting second hav-ing a slight edge of win-loss ratio (5:3).

HAMBANTOTA, FEB-RUARY 20 (ENS): Ma-hela Jayawardene scored the fastest World Cup cen-tury by a Sri Lankan while his captain Kumar San-gakkara missed a well de-served ton of his own as Sri Lanka crushed ICC Asso-ciate member Canada by 210 runs in match three of the 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup at the brand new Ma-hinda Rajapaksa cricket stadium in Hambantota, Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka, co-hosts of the World Cup along with India and Bangladesh, elected to bat and amassed 332 for 7 in fi fty overs after winning the toss against cricketing minnows Canada in what is both teams' first match of the tournament.. Cana-da could muster only 122 in 36.5 overs in reply to the massive Lankan total. Only captain Ashish Bagai with 22 and Rizwan Cheema with 37 put up any meaningful resis-tance as Canada became the second low ranked team to fall on the day after Kenya's demolition at the hands of New Zealand earlier in the day at Chennai. Canada were never in the chase af-ter losing 3 wickets in the fi rst three overs for 12 runs, especially big hitting opener John Davison for a golden duck. Sri Lankan pace bowl-ers Thisara Perera and Nu-wan Kulasekara took three wickets each as the visitors got mired in some excellent seam-up bowling.

It was Rizwan Chee-ma's defi ant 37 o� 35 balls with 2 sixes and 4 fours that took Canada over the 100 mark and saved some face. Cheema fell to veteran Muttiah Muralitharan af-ter having hit both his sixes

WC: Sri Lanka crush Canada by 210 runs

o� the spin legend. Murali with two wickets, Ajanta Mendis with one and Sa-maraweera with 1 supple-mented the seam bowlers. The only other Canadian to make double fi gures was Harvir Baidwan, who re-mained not out on 16 o� 35 balls. Earlier, Canada had done well to keep the hosts' openers quiet and restrict-ing them to 88 for 2 before the two Lankan stalwarts came together and put on 179 for the third wicket. Tillakaratne Dilshan made 50 off 59 balls and Upul Taranga 19 o� 31. Both San-gakkara (92 o� 87 balls with 7 fours and a six) and Jay-awardene (100 o� 81 balls

with 9 fours and a six) were dismisse by off spinner John Davison.

With only 5 overs left, the lower middle order went for quick runs and lost Thisara Perera (11 off 11) and Cha-mara Kapugedera (2 off 3) in quick succession. Angelo Mathews played a typical quickfi re cameo of 21 o� 16 balls with 3 fours and Thilan Samaraweera, who came in at number 8, scored 18 off 10 . Nuwan Kulasekara, who came in at the fall of Mathews hit a four o� the last ball to complete the Sri Lankan in-nings. None of the Canadian bowlers were outstanding, with Davison being the best, taking 2 for 56 o� 10 overs.

Sri Lanka's batsmen Mahela Jayawardene, right, and Kumar Sangakkara cheer each other during the ICC Cricket World Cup match between Sri Lanka and Canada in Hambantota, Sri Lanka, Sunday, February 20. (AP Photo)