New Zealand restrict Australia to 240 for 9

Mohali, Nov 1 (UNI) Skipper Rickey Ponting and Andrew Symonds slammed half centuries but superb bowling by New Zealand pacers Kyle Mills and Shane Bond in the slog overs restricted Australia to 240 for nine in 50 overs in the first semifinal of the Champions Trophy here this evening.

The Kiwi seamers served their team well as they got early breakthrough and then halted the Australians from running amuck in the slog overs to stay in the game.

Mills and Bond led New Zealand's bowling attack and surprised the mighty Australians with superb display of swing and controlled bowling. The Aussies, despite losing two early wickets, rallied well as they had three successive half century partnerships but they could not translate this into a big total because their lower order batsmen could not flourish as they are used to against some very intelligent bowling.

All the New Zealand bowlers, barring James Franklin, had the Australians in trouble and interestingly, Frankling, Kiwis' weakest link, gave them another crucial breakthrough when the Aussies looked set for a big total.

The bowlers were also backed by some tight fielding.

Stephen Fleming won the toss and put Australia in to bat and the Kiwis got off to a rousing start as they claimed both the openers within the first 15 minutes in just 2.5 overs.

It was Mills who struck on a track offering plenty of bounce and some seam movement. Shane Watson tried to attack the bowler only to drag a pull from outside and found Peter Fulton in mid-off. That happened in the second ball of the third over and three balls later Adam Gilchrist tried to flick Mills delivery to square leg only to be caught by Jacob Oram. He failed to open his account.

Fleming's decision to put Australia in to bat had paid early dividends and with the bowlers getting lot of swing and bounce, the Kiwis were in complete control.

Two wickets down for four runs, Australia were in dire situation but skipper Ricky Ponting and Damien Martyn came together and displayed matured batting devoid of any frill. The two steadied the innings negotiating the bowling sensibly and with etermination.

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