Batsmen to blame - Ponting

Ricky Ponting has blamed the batting underachievement for Australia's second CB Series finals loss in two years. After giving up the last version of the trophy in the 2-0 loss to India, Ponting calmly accepted responsibility for the performance after a below-par conclusion to the campaign.

"The batting has been inconsistent and my form has been awful all the way through the series," he said. "When you're batting at No. 3, you need to take up a lot of that responsibility. I haven't done that and I'm as guilty as anyone for that."

Australia slumped to 3 for 32 and were 5 for 123 - the figures were similar in the six-wicket defeat at the SCG on Sunday - when Andrew Symonds was lbw to Harbhajan Singh for 42. Michael Hussey resisted with 44 and when he departed James Hopes gave Australia a slim chance of taking the series to the third game in Adelaide.

However, he was the last man out for 63 and they fell ten runs short of victory. While some of his team-mates became excited during the closing stages of the chase, Ponting knew there was too much left to do.

"I always felt we were behind," he said. "James did a terrific job to get us close with a very sensible and mature innings. But being around the team for a while, when Symonds got out, I thought that wicket would mean we would be one wicket short at the end. That's how it turned out."

Australia controlled the early stages of the series and finished on top of the table, a repeat of their performance in 2006-07 when England claimed the prize. "It's a disappointing way to finish the summer," Ponting said. "We dominated this series right up until the final hurdle, but we fell at the final hurdle. In these last two finals we've been a little bit off the mark."