Semifinal could be decided by toss of coin: Ponting

PORT ELIZABETH, South Africa, March 2 AAP - Ricky Ponting fears Australia's likely World Cup semifinal at St George's Park will be decided by the toss of the coin if the state of the pitch doesn't improve.

If Ponting is right, Australia is in big trouble.

He's lost five of his six tosses so far.

The pitch was slow and low-bouncing during Australia's two-wicket win over England today, becoming more unpredictable as the day wore on and Australia struggled to haul in a victory total of 205 it would normally breeze by.

Australia will play its second Super Sixes game at St George's Park on March 11 and, assuming there are no upset losses along the way, a semifinal on the same patch of turf one week later.

"Hopefully it's not that same wicket," said Ponting.

"Hopefully it's not as bad as that one was. I thought that was a pretty ordinary one-day wicket.

"It was way too slow to be a one-day wicket. Hopefully when these bigger games come up here it's not decided on a toss of a coin, which it very well could have been today.

"We've played on wickets here in the past that have been better than that so hopefully when we come back it's a fair bit harder and there's more pace and bounce in it."

England captain Nasser Hussain did not agree.

"I thought it was a fantastic game of cricket and at least the pitch was fair for both sides," he said.

"You cannot have every game the same, where 300 plays 280. It was nice to have a game where the bowlers were in favour.

"It was a fascinating game. You have got to play cricket on all types of surfaces."

Australia's Super Sixes matches are at Centurion's SuperSport Park on Friday, St George's Park on March 11 and Kingsmead at Durban on March 15.