Cairns (Australia), Aug 01: Australian One-Day captain Ricky Ponting wants more intensity from his team in its three-match series with Bangladesh despite the visitors not coming close to winning any previous matches. Ponting today said he doesn't want the Australians to take shortcuts or lose intensity as they did in the Caribbean earlier this year when Australia lost three matches in a row at the end of a seven-match series after taking a winning 4-0 lead. "That hurt a little bit," Ponting said. "I was particularly disappointed with the way we played those last three games. We made mistakes that you haven't seen this team make for a long time. "We didn't respect the basics of the game and if you don't do that in One-Day cricket it's going to come back and bite you every time." In the three games between the two countries, Australia has always bowled first and has never batted for more than 26 Overs in successfully chasing small Bangladesh totals.

The first two matches will be played tomorrow and on Sunday in Cairns. The third is scheduled for next Wednesday in Darwin.

Bureau Report