Farcical finish to the Final spoiled Ponting's plans to give last over to retiring McGrath

Australian cricket captain Ricky Ponting ha said that the farcical finish to the final with Sri Lanka spoiled his plans to give the last over of the match to McGrath, who was playing his career's last game.

Sydney, May 3 : Australian cricket captain Ricky Ponting ha said that the farcical finish to the final with Sri Lanka spoiled his plans to give the last over of the match to McGrath, who was playing his career's last game.

He further said that when his side was forced to bowl three more overs with spin bowlers in near darkness at Kensington Oval to record a legitimate result, they missed the opportunity to give McGrath the chance to bowl his career's last over a memorable one.

"I'd actually planned the bowling so that Glenn McGrath could bowl the last over of the match and his career, so I guess we were denied that opportunity as well," an AAP report quoted Ponting as saying.

Speaking to the media on his team's return from the Caribbean, Ponting refused to criticise the length of the tournament, but did appear disappointed with the farcical finish to the final.

"We were running around like lunatics thinking we'd won, when umpire Aleem Dar came over and told me, well no, actually the game wasn't over yet. To be honest, I really thought he was joking. We get on pretty well, Aleem and I, and we like to have a joke now and then, but I thought this particular one was extremely poorly timed," Ponting said at Sydney airport this morning, where the bulk of the team arrived back on home soil.

Ponting said Australia's second straight undefeated run at a World Cup was an amazing achievement and he continued to praise Adam Gilchrist for his man of the match performance in the final.

"For us to again go through undefeated and once again have a lot of our players peaking at the right time in the World Cup is an amazing achievement by everybody. Gilly's innings in the final as I have been flat out telling him, it was unbelievable, that was the one difference between the two teams in the final," he added.

ANI