RICKY PONTING PRAISES GAYLE AND SAMUELS

Ponting praises West Indian spinners

Australian captain Ricky Ponting praised the performance of West Indian finger spinners Chris Gayle and Marlon Samuels after the world champions were defeated by 10 runs in their Champions Trophy opener overnight.

Both spinners bowled their full quota of 10 overs and conceded only 75 runs between them as Australia fell short of the West Indies' 6 for 234 on a slow Mumbai pitch.

"We always knew it would be difficult to chase, we always knew the wicket would slow up and probably turn as the game went on," Ponting said.

"You look at their finger spinners, Gayle and Samuels did a very good job for them. They probably got the ball to spin a lot more than what we did earlier in the game.

"But we can't blame conditions. There was a game here to be won and we were not good enough. So I won't be blaming anybody but ourselves."

Australia now meet England in Saturday's Group A in their first clash since the Ashes changed hands at The Oval last year.

England lost their opening match to hosts India, and Ponting said the game was now a 'must-win' for the Australians.

"I think you've got to look at every game in this series as a knockout game anyway," he said.

"As we found out in the last couple of Champions Trophies, one little slip up and you're gone.

"So for us tonight, a disappointing result, but we've got to forget about it as soon as we can and talk about the areas we didn't play well tonight.

"It is the first time Australia and England are meeting since the last Ashes battle."

"Now, with a lot riding on the game as far as this tournament is concerned I'm sure it will be another good game of cricket, hopefully one that we come out on top."

Middle-order batsman Michael Clarke was involved in a mid-pitch argument with Gayle during the match and Ponting said he expected the incident would be examined by officials.

"I think as we all saw it was fairly animated," he said.

"They were brushing shoulders as they were walking down the wicket. I wouldn't have thought that was acceptable in this game."

West Indies vice-captain Ramnaresh Sarwan, who led his side in the field in the absence of Brian Lara who suffered a back spasm while batting, said Lara would be fit for the next match against India.

"We understand that India play pretty well at home. But we are going to go into that game with the same positive attitude and hopefully win that one as well," he said.