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Cricket

Ponting aiming for Test record

01/01/2008

Australia captain Ricky Ponting has admitted his team have talked about the possibility of equalling the Test record for consecutive wins.

Ponting's men could make it 16 Test wins in a row if they beat India in the second Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground which starts tomorrow. That would equal the record set by the great Australian side led by Steve Waugh between 1999-2001.

"I did mention it to the team this morning," said Ponting. "I'm sure there will be a bit more excitement if we happen to win this Test.

"I don't want to be taking anything away from that team, which is why I did mention it to the team this morning.

"I wanted them to have a little taste of that, as I said, digest it, get away, prepare and come and play well."

Although Australia hammered India by 337 runs in the first Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground last week, Ponting only scored seven runs in the match and was dismissed by Harbhajan Singh in the second innings, a man he has been out to six times in seven Tests.

But Ponting, who has 33 Test hundreds, expects to overcome his problems against Harbhajan and score heavily at the SCG.

"He's got a great record in Tests against me," said Ponting. "He got me first ball last week. But it could be my turn here. It's just a matter of time before I get some runs. I have got a good record here [SCG], I've made five hundreds on this ground.

"Hopefully that can be the case this week. It was lean last week, I had almost as many catches as runs. But I had a good net, I'm coming off a couple of hundreds in the ODIs [against New Zealand] and I'm feeling good to go," he added.