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Australia v Sri Lanka, CB Series, 3rd ODI, Sydney
'There's still things I want to improve' - Bracken
Brydon Coverdale at the SCG
February 8, 2008
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Nathan Bracken picked up a career-best 5 for 47 at the SCG
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Nathan Bracken believes he is not at his peak despite collecting his best
ODI figures in Australia's 128-run thrashing of Sri Lanka. Bracken took 5
for 47, his second five-wicket haul in the format, and his
ability to switch from an opening spell of swing bowling to offcutters
later in the innings earned praise from Ricky Ponting.
However, Bracken himself was far from satisfied. "There's still things I
want to work on, there's still things I want to improve," he said. "When I bowled cutters it wasn't consistent.
"I wasn't putting the ball where I wanted to as often as I wanted to. That's something that I'll go back and work on with Troy Cooley and hopefully through the series I can get that right and hit good areas."
Bracken has seen plenty of slow and low SCG pitches during his Pura Cup outings this season and the familiar conditions made him the ideal man to trouble a Sri Lankan order that struggled to adapt. "New South Wales have played their last couple of games here so there's been an opportunity to have a look at the wickets and see how they've been playing.
"It's been similar to the sort of pitches we've had. I enjoy bowling on those, it gives you an opportunity to swing the ball early and then change up the pace and try and get a little bit of turn out of it towards the end."
Bracken might be the forgotten man in an attack that features faster and flashier types like Brett Lee and Mitchell Johnson, but Ponting said the variety of bowlers in his arsenal was a key to Australia's success. Few Australian sides have maintained two left-arm fast men in recent years but Bracken saw no reason why he and Johnson could not keep sharing ideas and working together at international level.
"We're trying to help each other out," Bracken said. "We both bring different things to the team and go about things a different way. If we can help each other out it makes my job a lot easier and his job a lot easier."
Brydon Coverdale is a staff writer at Cricinfo
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