Oz cricketers eyeing 250, 000 dollar cash bonanza

Melbourne, Mar.25 (ANI): Australia's cricketers are about to have a 250, 000 dollar payday.

With captain Ricky Ponting to officially get his hands on the world championship trophy, the International Cricket Council's gold mace, and two sizeable cheques during an ICC ceremony in Johannesburg tomorrow, the team stands to benefit hugely.

Cricket Australia is yet to advise if the 250,000 dollars -- 175,000 dollars for being the top Test nation at the end of the yearly rankings, and 75,000 dollars for finishing second in the limited-overs format - would be split evenly among those to have played Tests and one-dayers in the previous 12 months.

The rankings period ends on April 1.

"Our cricket in the first two Test matches was as good as we've played for a long time. We can be very happy and satisfied with the series win and the result over the first couple of weeks," The Age quoted Ponting, as saying.

"But I think we'll take some knocking out of that No. 1 ranking. That's obviously what you're always striving for. You're always striving to make yourself a better team ... we have taken some great steps on this tour. The next lot of Test-match cricket we play will be the Ashes, which is going to be another great challenge for everybody," he added. (ANI)