Big boys play at night — but it’s the early mornings that seem to get Brad Williams going. With nine wickets in the two Trans-Tasman games in this tri-series, where Australia got first bowl, Williams is on a roll. ‘‘Maybe it’s because of the early morning starts, but I just like bowling in these day games as there is some juice to exploit.’’ If Faridabad was all-round mayhem, with New Zealand failing to reach double figures, Pune was a personal kind of carnage as Williams picked up five wickets — his first such haul — and the man of the match award. Ponting’s pat for the Michaels Australian captain Ricky Ponting today gave credit to the two Michaels (Clarke and Bevan) for the thrilling two-wicket win over New Zealand in the triangular series match here today. “I thought we chased pretty well. It is a good effort on our part to restrict the New Zealanders to 258 and then chase the target even after losing four wickets for 65 runs. The two Michaels batted very well and put us on the right track after adding 108 runs under lot of pressure,” Ponting said. “I think the toss was a huge factor. Probably if we had batted first, we would have struggled against bowlers like (Daryl) Tuffey and (Jacob) Oram but luckily I won the toss and put them into bat. In both matches, though, the focus drifted away from the bowling performance and on to the pace-friendly pitch. Williams has a different take on this. ‘‘The two pitches were similar but this pitch (Pune) eased out as the day progressed.’’ A fast pitch is one thing, making judicious use of it is another. Williams did so to an extent. He bowled an incisive — and dead straight — line, reflected in the fact that three of his victims were out either bowled or LBW. However, his accuracy was diluted by several wayward deliveries, which swelled the extras tally to 38, but this was the only blip in the Williams show. ‘‘I pride myself in not bowling wides. Maybe it was because of the excessive swing, I couldn’t control the ball.’’ Just enough to ensure though that Williams boarded the flight to Delhi with something to think. ‘‘My rhythm just doesn’t feel right. I would say I am yet to hit top form.’’ Not good news, then for Indian and Kiwi batsmen.
