Umpiring, form leave the Aussies frustrated

By Malcolm Conn

PUNE, MARCH 26. After a magnificent, whole-hearted but ultimately fruitless fortnight of Test cricket tougher than this team has ever played, Australia began to fray at the edges in the opening One-day match at Bangalore on Sunday night.

There was obvious frustration and a significant slice of it appeared to be directed at the umpiring, which wasn't brilliant but was certainly no worse than Australia's bowling or most of its batting. The umpiring in Australia last summer, particularly during the One-day series, was very modest at times.

Asked to comment about decisions, including his leg before wicket, which might have contained an inside edge sweeping, Waugh replied: ``I can't comment on those. You guys have got two eyes, you saw them.'' Later he said: ``I wouldn't say things haven't gone well for a few weeks. We played good cricket, we gave it our best.

``Today was frustrating certainly but India won this game. I think I should leave it at that. ``We were up for the game, we were a chance of winning it, things just didn't go quite our way. I'm better off not saying too much.''

It was interesting that only captain Steve Waugh and vice-captain Adam Gilchrist attended the after-match presentation, which is mainly an excuse for a dozen or two local officials to crowd the dais and get their heads on television. There is never any room for the players, who are interviewed on the ground.

With the exception of the unstoppable Matthew Hayden's 99, and some solid fielding, an area where India was well below par, the Australians were ordinary. First they let India score a new record against Australia - 315, before allowing India cruise to a 60-run victory in excellent batting conditions.

The only decent partnership was a brisk 120 between Hayden (99 in 89 balls) and Michael Bevan (49 in 57 balls), which took Australia to 2-154 and could have laid the foundation for an unlikely victory. ``We should have won the game from where we were after 25 overs,'' Waugh said.

From the time Glenn McGrath sent the first ball of the match down the leg side for a wide, and did the same with the second except it was called no ball, there were questions about how switched on the Australians really were.

It was also interesting that for a side which had been through such a physically and mentally draining two weeks, all three players left out were fresh fly-ins - Darren Lehmann, Andrew Symonds and Nathan Bracken.

``We came to the conclusion that we'd go with the guys who've done very well for us but those three guys who missed out could well play the next game,'' Waugh said.

Ricky Ponting failed again, holing out to mid-off for nine to go with scores of 0, 6, 0, 0 and 11 during the Test series. Waugh would not say directly if Ponting should or would be rested but hinted as much.

``We're going on the rotation system again here so everyone will get opportunities and everyone has got to expect to miss out at some stage,'' said Waugh. ``He'll miss out, but I'm not sure when.''

The one continuing plus for Australian on this tough but exciting tour is the peerless form of Hayden, a man who has spent almost a decade on the fringes of the national side without breaking through, until now.

Belatedly but rightly retained as a 15th player in the One-day squad, his exceptional Test series, 549 runs at 109.8, forced a reshuffling of the successful and sometimes brutal Adam Gilchrist-Mark Waugh opening combination. Gilchrist went down to No. 7 in an unbalanced side which was an all-rounder short.

``Hayden is playing so well he's got to be given the opportunity at the top of the order but that doesn't mean he (Gilchrist) won't go back there at some stage,'' Waugh said.

The obvious animosity between opposing captains Waugh and Sourav Ganguly seems to have evaporated after the Test series, with the two men chatting convivially as they walked out together to toss, a first on this tour.

``It's not surprised me,'' Ganguly said of that animosity. ``Following Steve's article at the beginning of the series I knew what was coming.

``But then that's part and parcel of the game. They play good, hard cricket, we play good, hard cricket, I've got no problems with that. We are good friends off the field.''

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