Ponting welcomes return of star players

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Johannesburg (South Africa), Apr. 15 (ANI): Australian cricket captain Ricky Ponting has welcomed the return of some of his star players following the team's 3-1 defeat in the one-day series in South Africa.

"We have sort of been stretched quite a bit in the last eight or 12 months with our bowling in both forms of the game, with Brett Lee not being around, and Stuie Clark not being around, Ben Hilfenhaus and Peter Siddle being rested from this (one-day) tour. It's good that we've got a couple of the more experienced guys coming back into our group in the next little bit. They'll add a lot of class and a lot of experience back to our bowling group again," The Herald Sun quoted Ponting, as saying.

Ponting conceded the home side had "outplayed us in every facet of the game" and thoroughly deserved the prized top ranking.

"They have got a very good team. They are at their absolute full strength at the moment. We've played this series here with about half of our regular team. There have been glimpses of some good stuff in the last two games that we've played. But glimpses of good cricket is not good enough to win against a very good South African side," he said.

South Africa's series victory means Graeme Smith's side now claim the ODI No.1 ranking.

The fifth and final ODI game against South Africa is at Wanderers Stadium on Friday. (ANI)