Adam Gilchrist and Matthew Hayden after beating Bangladesh by 10 wickets in St John’s on Saturday. (AP)

St John’s: Australia captain Ricky Ponting sent a chill down the rival spines, saying that the 10-wicket whipping of Bangladesh notwithstanding, the reigning champions are yet to be at their best.

“Going back to our warm-up matches, we have been playing well ever since we arrived in the Caribbean. We want to keep improving and play our best cricket in a few weeks’ time,” Ponting said after Australia cut Bangladesh to size in a Super Eight game here on Saturday.

The final is slated for April 28.

Ponting seemed happy to have got the two well-deserved points after overnight rain and a wet outfield reduced the game to a 22-over-a-side affair. “Luckily we got a game in, full credit to the umpires for making a sensible decision,” he said.

But he was critical of the groundstaff. Overnight rain caused problems, but these were exacerbated when the ground’s only supersopper broke down. Moreover, there appeared to be a lack of urgency in dealing with some of the affected areas around the boundary edge.

And then in a bizarre spectacle, groundstaff members tread on small bits of sponge in a bid to soak up water on one of the biggest outfields in the entire Caribbean.

A clearly unimpressed Ponting said: “We didn’t see enough hands on deck out on the ground.

“I know they had a machinery breakdown which didn’t help things. But I went and spoke to the umpires at one stage and they said the groundstaff were on their lunch-break. That was a little more time that was killed.”

Bangladesh were restricted to 104 for six from 22 overs and the Australians overhauled the target in a mere 13.5 overs, with Adam Gilchrist slamming his 50th ODI fifty with a 59 not out and Matthew Hayden striking 44 off 39 balls.

Gilchrist said the hurry in which his team finished the target had more to do with the weather than improving their run-rate.

“We were looking at the clouds coming on and wanted to finish the task on Saturday. We didn’t want to come back tomorrow (Sunday),” the left-hander said.

“If you concentrate on winning, the run-rate will take care of itself.”

Gilchrist, who smashed eight fours and a six, praised the bowlers and his opening partner.

“The bowlers have been outstanding throughout. Against South Africa they were under pressure but came back strongly. But against other teams they were always on top,” he said.

“Hayden has been in intimidating form,” he added.

For Bangladesh, it was a reality check after coming through the first round in which they shocked India and beat Bermuda to qualify for the second stage.

“We lost too many wickets too early. The bowlers tried a bit but there were not enough runs to defend,” captain Habibul Bashar said.

“Our shot selection was not good, wickets were important,” he added.

Bangladesh coach Dav Whatmore hoped his young batsmen would learn quickly from their 10-wicket thrashing.

“A little bit of inexperience in this short form of the game and some indiscretion, basically,” Whatmore said, summing up the performance of his team.

McGrath gave a bowling lesson to rout Bangladesh in their debut appearance in the second round.

“He has got the best economy rate,” Whatmore said. “The boys knew that but they still wanted to hit him. That is the frustrating part.”

McGrath bowled opener Shahriar Nafees with a perfect yorker and removed Aftab Ahmed and Mohammed Ashraful, with both mistiming shots in the air.

Whatmore put that down to rush of blood rather than a lack of talent in a team that shocked India in the group stage to qualify.