The initial two games of the VB tri-series have seen Australia emerging victorious on both occasions — one a thriller, the other one-sided. The first match in Melbourne saw both teams demonstrating that they have not fully adjusted from the longer version of the game to the limited-overs version. However, there was plenty to suggest that the forthcoming encounters will be constantly filled with excitement. From an Indian perspective, Virender Sehwag continues to be a thorn in the Australian side at the top of the order, finding another partner in Sachin Tendulkar, to continue to thwart our opening attack. While their opening partnership was a mix of good fortune and brave shot-making, we were unable to create a breakthrough till the 19th over. In so doing, Sehwag and Tendulkar had given the tenacious Indian batting the protection it needed from the new ball, plus a run-rate of over 5. All wickets are critical in ODI cricket as there is limited time, overs, or balls to regain or re-establish the momentum of an innings, particularly in pursuit of a reasonable total. Ricky Ponting’s catch from Tendulkar; Dravid pulling Michael Clarke to Ian Harvey 11 overs later; then the double blow of Yuvraj chipping Ian Harvey to Michael Clarke on the fifth ball of the 46th over, with Sourav falling next ball to an unfathomable run-out saw India wither, losing six wickets for 16 runs. The Indian bowling attack certainly contained our batting line-up by taking early wickets, then key wickets from the 40th over. Agarkar continued his outstanding summer with the ball and had good support from all others. It was obvious though that onfield and through the second half of India’s batting innings, his team missed Mohammed Kaif, a vital member of the ODI outfit. Our second game of the tournament against Zimbabwe was played on a very uneven SCG strip. All our players struggled to adapt to the slowish, ‘‘up-and-down’’ nature of the wicket. It was pleasing to see Symonds and Clarke combine to build a slow but substantial partnership of 66 to allow us to post a final total of 8 My assistant coach Tim Nielsen, who is an exceptional person and coach, told me that it was at least 70 runs too many for Zimbabwe, provided we delivered on our basics. In the end it proved to be 99 runs too many due to some hostile and accurate new ball bowling from Brad Williams and Jason Gillespie. The mention of the word ‘‘coach’’ brings me to some topical media interest being generated in Australia at the moment by some former Test players, such as Dennis Lillee, Ian Chappell and others. I very rarely read print media, but cannot escape other broadcast forms of media. There are two separate agendas being pursued currently. The ‘‘Chappell’’ agenda argues there is no need for coaches to be associated with national teams — that has been and should always remain the sole province of the captain. The second agenda, being championed by Dennis Lillee and which has gathered momentum over the past couple of weeks, has been the need for specific skill coaches (eg, a bowling coach such as Bruce Reid, currently working with India). While I have no qualms with either regime, I do not subscribe to either in terms of my coaching approach or philosophy. Each coach must clearly understand how he or she operates; be open to advice; be undistracted by praise or criticism; be determined to seek peak performance; and not compromise his or her principles. Should that prove to be unsuccessful or inappropriate for the team or the employer, then the result is the coach will go. Such an outcome is always a possibility for a coach and must be accepted as part of the territory. If a coach attempts to protect the position, or tries to satisfy all the needs and demands of those within and outside the team, then the coach’s future is limited. We are entering a new period of Australian cricket through the course of the current VB Series and beyond to tours of Sri Lanka, England and India. It will be an exciting time — a time of many challenges thrown at us from external sources such as the teams we play, the conditions we meet, the criticisms and expectations of an unforgiving media and public. However, the great thrill as coach is that we have the nucleus of a team and support staff that will lead us into the future with great confidence, irrespective of the occasional ‘‘fish & chips’’ comments.(Gameplan)
