It was a tough win, Players showed character: Ricky Ponting

St Peter's, Apr 9 (UNI) A thrilled Australian captain Ricky Ponting lavished praise on his team saying the players showed character when it was needed to notch up a tough win over England.

''Though on face of it, seven wicket win looks easy but it was not so, it was hard match and England played well,'' Ponting told media persons after the game.

He said: ''It was a pretty tight game right the way through -- Kevin Pietersen and Ian Bell played beautifully after we got a couple of early breakthroughs.'' ''But I think the difference today was our intensity when the game wasn't going for us in the middle of their innings, and our fielding was great.

''We kept the pressure on and our bowlers did a terrific job at the end. We remained focused at that stage and that is what made all the diffetrence,'' he said.

He said the wicket of Ian bell was the turning point of the game.

''They (England) were batting well and were 164 for 2 and that time we got the breakthrough and I think that was the turning point of this match.'' The Australian skipper said his decision to delay taking the third power play was to protect his bowlers.

''We kept it back as Kevin and Ian were going pretty well at that stage, and when you take a powerplay early on with set batters it's pretty hard work for the bowlers.

''I decided to hold it off to see if we could get the ball to reverse, and (man of the match) Shaun Tait was terrific in that spell. I think when the power plays first came in, captains were trying to get them out of the way right at the start.'' The skipper added: ''With varying conditions around the world, there are going to be times when it's going to be in your favour to take them later in the innings, and today was one of those days.'' He was modest about his batting, though he was highest scorer with 86 he played it down saying: ''Today wasn't very pretty, but we're getting a few runs. Our openers have got us off to good starts throughout the tournament, Michael Clarke looked terrific and Andrew Symonds got a bit of time out in the middle.'' ''Hopefully we can keep improving as the tournament goes on.'' Tait, who took three wickets conceding 41 runs in his 10 overs also addressed the press conference and said: ''I was quite happy with the way I bowled with the new ball, which was a change from the previous games.'' ''Today I bashed them in a bit more, and I feel I'm a bit smarter about my bowling.

We all stepped up as Glenn McGrath fought back well, Bracks [Nathan Bracken] took three wickets at the end which was fantastic.'' Ponting however made it clear that his team was not going to relax.

''It is the world cup and you just can't take other teams lightly. Ireland, is tough, they have beaten Pakistan,'' Ponting said about their next rivals whom they face on April 12. The defending champions will take on Sri Lanka (April 16) and New Zealand (April 20) in their remaining league matches.

UNI