Australia’s injury crisis deepens, Paine ruled out of rest of the series

By Rahul Bajaj
for Cricketain.com

Published: October 29, 2009

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Nagpur: Australia’s injury woes continued on Wednesday with wicket-keeper batsman Tim Paine breaking his finger during the Indian innings in the second ODI at Nagpur ruling him out of the rest of the series.

“Tim has a broken finger. He will be going back home and we haven’t decided on his replacement. The replacement should be available for the next match in Delhi,” visiting team skipper Ricky Ponting said after the match. Paine, who himself was a replacement for the regular wicket-keeper Brad Haddin who is already on the injured list and is not with the touring party, suffered the injury while trying to collect a bouncing delivery from speedster Peter Siddle in the eighth over of the Indian innings.

Talking about the comprehensive 99-run defeat suffered by his team today at the hands of the hosts, Ponting said Australia were totally outplayed.

“India seized the momentum early on. They batted very well, Dhoni and Gambhir initially and then Raina. And once we were 45 for three we were out of the game. Our batsmen had everything to lose and nothing to gain today. Unfortunately, we ended up on the losing side,” Ponting said.

Ponting defended his decision to field first as he said batting was his team’s stronger suit today in the absence of Brett Lee and James Hopes due to injuries.  ”It’s not often that I decide to bowl on winning the toss. I thought our batting was strong and we could chase comfortably. But India upset the calculations,” Ponting said. He said Lee could have made a difference as he had been bowling well.

“It could’ve made a difference. Brett has been bowling very well. But it was also an opportunity for the others to showcase their talent. Unfortunately, we came up a bit short,” he said.

Ponting lamented the death bowling woes faced by his team after the retirement of pace great Glenn McGrath. “Ever since Glenn McGrath has moved out, the death overs have been a problem. We were a few centimeters away from executing our plans today,” he said.

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