McGrath: My accuracy is the key

After they received a sound thrashing at the hands of the Australians, the New Zealanders admitted that nothing had gone right for them on the day. Stephen Fleming, tired, disappointed and probably wondering how quickly things can change - one day defending champions and the next virtually knocked out - had a few things to say before he picked the pieces up and moved on to the next game.

"We didn't execute well enough and to beat Australia you have to execute in the right areas when you bowl and be thorough with your batting. The fielding was a bit lazy as well. In that sense, we were under par and to beat a side like Australia you probably have to exceed expectations. That didn't happen today," said the Kiwi skipper.

Australian captain Ricky Ponting, for his part, explained how he never went into a match expecting to win so easily: "You never expect to bowl a side out for about 100. There was some sloppy fielding towards the end of the day but we took the initiative away from New Zealand very early on with some good aggressive opening batting. That laid the foundation and the other batsmen chipped in around them. I'm a bit disappointed that none of the top order batsmen went on to make a big score after they got starts, but all in all it was a very satisfying day for us."

The Australian bowling, while effective, was by no means unplayable on this wicket here at the Sinhalese Sports Club Grounds. Fleming agreed with this while conceding that the Aussies did get the basics right: "We probably made it look very good. They bowled a good line and length but it was still a good wicket to bat on. We probably fell a bit to the pressure as well. When there is a big score on the board you have to be aggressive and when you're aggressive you push the limits. The limits were too far today and we lost wickets. We had no partnerships, we had no tempo and they dominated the game."

Much credit must go to Glenn McGrath and Jason Gillespie who bowled with fire and broke the back of the Kiwis. Ponting was effusive in his praise of the duo: "Jason and Glenn bowl very well every game they play. They're two of the best fast bowlers in the world - that's what the statistics and the other players will tell you. As a captain, it's nice to have these two opening the bowling for you. They bowl in the right areas, keep the seam upright and if there's anything in the wicket they usually get it out of it and that makes my job as captain easier.

Man of the Match for his 5/37, McGrath, deflected his captain's words of praise, saying there was no real secret to fast bowling: "I don't bowl that quick and I don't really do a great deal with the ball. What I do is land the ball pretty much where I want to. My accuracy is the key and a bit of bounce to go with it. I don't think there's any secret to fast bowling. No matter what pace you bowl at, if you can land the ball where you want - hitting the top of off - 99 times out of 100 then you will take wicket."

In the course of his performance, McGrath joined the club of bowlers who have taken 250 ODI wickets. The New South Welshman believes there's a bit left in him yet.

"I guess 250 was the landmark I wanted to reach. Obviously 300 is the next landmark. Let's see how the body holds up, I want to play for another two or three years at least so hopefully there's a few wickets left in me yet," he said.

Once again New Zealand have come into a tournament missing key players due to injury. None more so than Chris Cairns and Craig McMillan. Fleming said this was a worry but tried to look at the bright side of things: "The positive thing is that we're developing players. This is the second biggest stage and the players are experiencing playing in big games. There a few cricketers back in New Zealand who will be back in the side for the World Cup like Chris Cairns and Craig McMillan. But come World Cup time we'll have a bigger pool of players to choose from and some idea of how certain players perform under pressure."

And finally, one interesting if not terribly relevant aspect of New Zealand on the field, was their method of throwing from the deep. Even from the shorter boundaries the Kiwis were using a relay method, throwing the ball to man in the circle for him to fire in to the keeper. "We're just trying new things, experimenting new ways to play the game. We want to know exactly what we want to do and how we want to do it when we hit the World Cup. There are other things we want to try and will do when we get the opportunity," Fleming explained.