Australia will today bid to erase a few more of the bad memories they must still have of facing Bangladesh - two years after the minnows pulled off one of cricket's biggest shocks. The stakes will be higher at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, as Australia bid for their fifth straight victory at this World Cup, than they were in the NatWest Series at Cardiff in June 2005. Aussie captain Ricky Ponting insists that five-wicket defeat, prefaced by the dropping of key all-rounder Andrew Symonds for breaking curfew the previous night, is well and truly in the past. He is determined, however, his team will give fast-improving Bangladesh due credit. Asked if Australia have puzzled out what went wrong in Wales, he said: "Yes. We've worked it out." Understandably, though, it does not appear to be Ponting's favourite subject. "A lot's been said about it already. It's two years gone," he pointed out. "It's long gone and forgotten about as far as we are concerned. We just didn't play at our best that day, and there was a bit of other stuff happening around the ground." The "other stuff" chiefly concerned Symonds - whose absence at the time was shrouded in mystery until Australia clarified it. "I had a few things on mind during the course of the day," Ponting recalls. "We lost that game; Bangladesh played well; we made a lot of mistakes - and I hope we are a better team tomorrow than we were on that day. I think we are." Australia could hardly be in better shape going into their latest brush with the Tigers. They are one of just two countries with four Super Eight points on the board already - while record-breaking veteran pace bowler Glenn McGrath, one of seven members of the current team who played in Cardiff, is in line to set a new all-time best for World Cup career wickets. McGrath took three wickets in Australia's win over West Indies three days ago and now needs just two more to go above Wasim Akram's aggregate of 55 in this competition. Thirty-seven-year-old McGrath's cricketing longevity is no surprise to Ponting. "He's a very proud man," said the captain. "He's probably is his own harshest critic - and he's pushing himself to the limit at the moment." McGrath is expected to retire at the conclusion of this tournament. Ponting added: "He's bowling very well but he wants to get everything out of these last few games that he possibly can. He actually had a dig at me the other day for not bowling him at the tail against the West Indies - because he wanted a couple more wickets." If Ponting and Co are hoping to bury old news, Bangladesh are equally determined to create another sensation - although their captain Habibul Bashar notes it will not be such a big shock should his team prevail again. Bangladesh have already upset one set of antipodeans in the Caribbean, scoring a warm-up victory over the otherwise impressive New Zealanders in Bridgetown - before going on to help put India out of the competition in the group stage. That all leaves Habibul with plenty of confidence - as well a realist's sense of the challenge ahead. "It is not going to be easy; it will be very tough. But we believe it is not an impossible task," he said. | 
