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Johannesburg: Australian master batsman Ricky Ponting comes face to face with West Indies apprentice bowler Gavin Tonge on Saturday in an ICC Champions Trophy clash where the outcome appears a foregone conclusion.
It is not so much a question of whether the Australians will win but by how much against opponents lacking stars like skipper Chris Gayle and Shivnarine Chanderpaul owing to a long-running contract dispute.
Even at full strength the West Indies no longer rank among the giants of the game while Australia invariably are title favourites when an international One-day tournament comes around.
The Aussies arrived here this week weary but jubilant after thrashing Ashes tormentors England 6-1 in a ODI series that brought the curtain down on a four-month tour.
At the same time the fall and fall and fall of West Indies cricket continued with a home series loss to Bangladesh, a team not considered good enough to play in the Champions Trophy.
Ponting may have a tongue as sharp as his bat, but he refuses to write off their first opponents in a group completed by fierce rivals India and Pakistan, who clash 40 kilometres away at Centurion on the same day.
"The West Indies will get the respect they deserve from us. There is nothing we can do about the contractual dispute," he told reporters as the squad prepared at university grounds close to the city centre.
Tasmania-born right hander Ponting is a cricket legend having score more ODI runs than any other Australian in a 123-cap career that began against South Africa 14 years ago.
He assumed the captaincy of the 50-over team in 2002 and has led Australia to the pinnacle of the game twice with World Cup triumphs in South Africa and the West Indies.
Tonge is a much more recent arrival on the international scene, making his debut just two months ago against Bangladesh and failing to capture a single wicket.
However, two days ago the 26-year-old Antiguan leapt out of obscurity with 4-25 against Pakistan, who won by five wickets after the West Indies were dismissed for 133 runs.
Tonge could not speak highly enough of the pitch at the Wanderers, the 30,000-seat home of South African cricket set in an up-market northern suburb of the financial capital.
"Hopefully it will be behaving the same way when we meet Australia. I will put the ball on the same spot and let the pitch do the same. Hopefully, it will be doing the same thing again", he said.
By "same thing" he means being a "very, very good pitch for fast bowling" and with the wicket he most prized, Indian Yuvraj Singh, no longer available due to injury, he can adjust his Champions Trophy sights to Ponting.
