After easily dismissing Sri Lanka and becoming the first team to qualify for the World Cup semi-finals, Australian captain Ricky Ponting was confident that he team would do well in the remaining games. He also told a press conference that his team was fully prepared for their upcoming encounter against New Zealand.

Were you pleased with your batting performance?

The top-four batsmen really dug in and posted big scores. A lot of us, me included, have got starts and not capitalized. The wicket was very good and we capitalized and posted a big first innings total, so that was very pleasing.

Can this Australian side be beaten?

Yes, we can be. We saw that in Port Elizabeth against England last week. We weren't beaten but we were very close. If we keep preparing well and playing the way we are, we know we will be very competitive.

How did you view Adam Gilchrist's innings?

It was a brilliant innings and it really set up the match for us. It was unfortunate he got out the way he did but he was striking the ball well and it was very pleasing.

Did anything disappoint you about today's performance?

Not really, it was a pretty good day for us. They probably got more runs in the end than they should have. But then it happens in these sorts of games. They had nothing to lose at the end and Aravinda De Silva decided to get stuck in and play some shots and it came off for a while. Otherwise our batting was very good and the opening spells with the ball were good. We had them under pressure from the start. We had spoken about this yesterday in the team meeting and we executed our plans well.

Sri Lanka and India, the teams most likely to challenge you, are susceptible to the short ball. Is that something you plan?

I think they are, but it depends on the wicket. On a quick wicket, Glenn McGrath and Brett Lee are going get the most out of it and if there is pace and bounce we will try our best to unsettle the opposition. We did that today and it worked well for us.

Intimidating the opposition, is that something you worry about at times?

You don't want to see anyone get seriously hurt and hopefully Sanath Jayasuriya has not been seriously injured but it's the World Cup and we are trying to bowl where their batmen are least likely to score off us. If that happens to be at the body then that's where we will bowl. We are not going to go out there and bowl full, wide ones. He is going to smack us over cover or point all the time. That's a weakness in his game and we have been able to pick on it very well.

The upcoming match against New Zealand promises to be a good one.

I think they are a pretty good one-day side and they tend to lift themselves against Australia. They have a lot of batting depth with all-rounders Jacob Oram and Andre Adams. They bat and bowl pretty well and we know to beat them we need to keep doing the things that we have been doing so far. Once again, it's all down to us to be sharp and on our game. They always tend to play well against us and there is a little it of rivalry. They played well when they last toured Australia.

Stephen Fleming as opener. How would you want to tackle him?
I watched a little bit of his innings against South Africa and it was sensational. He is always aggressive and we will have to come up with plans to counter him. He plays the cross-batted strokes and drives down the ground well. So there is a very little margin for error against him.

What do you think was the turning point of the match?

The start we got. We had mentioned in meeting that it is important we get through the new ball. Chaminda Vaas can do some damage and we got through that and we batted well against the spinners. The start set it up for us.