Age is catching up with the current crop

By Malcolm Conn

CHENNAI, MARCH 23. As the exhausted Australians attempt to re- gather themselves for a one-day series which will be on them on Sunday, they can rest easier in the knowledge that there will be no short-term recriminations for a Test series loss more exciting and draining than any previously encountered by this generation.

If there are to be any changes for the Ashes tour when a compact squad of as few as 14 is chosen in three weeks they will be peripheral. However, two of Australia's biggest names, Shane Warne and Mark Waugh, will be on notice that their alarming downward trend will not be allowed to continue unchecked.

So spent were the Australians on Thursday after 10 days of Test cricket from 12 in oppressive conditions that they were forced to have a team meeting at 11.30 a.m. to see who was fit and able to play in a day-night charity match for earthquake victims. It was used as a practice match for the one-dayers.

Whatever the past criticisms of splitting the Test and one-day sides, it has never been more opportune. Darren Lehmann, Michael Bevan, Ian Harvey, Andrew Symonds and Nathan Bracken have added fresh minds and body for a five-match one-day series Steve Waugh cannot yet bring himself to talk about.

``We're too physically and mentally tired to contemplate them but we know they're just around the corner and we'll have to lift ourselves for those,'' he said.

The public concerns raised by coach John Buchanan before the last Test about Warne's fitness caused considerable angst amongst the team hierarchy and Waugh in particular for failing to keep the problems in-house.

It left Warne in a no-win situation. If he played well Buchanan is seen to have fired him up, if he played poorly the coach was right.

This led Waugh to offer almost excessive praise of Warne despite another caning which prevented the world's most acclaimed spinner from making any impact on a last day wicket, a situation he has so often revelled in over the years.

``He can't do it every time,'' Waugh said. ``He gave a strong performance. He gave it everything. That's all I'm going to ask of my players.

``I'm not going to put anyone down. That's just the way cricket goes sometimes. They played him very well.

``He's not normally used to those sort of figures but you've got to give credit to the batsmen. Laxman (503 runs at 83.83 for the series) played him superbly.''

After a good first Test Warne claimed just 5-380 in the following two matches and conceded almost four runs an over. He finished with 10 wickets for the series at 50.5, the second time his bowling has been above 50 in as many tours of India.

In 11 matches against India, Warne now has just 29 wickets at 55.45 and is unlikely to get the chance to improve that, but it is the longer term trend which is of most concern. Warne's overall bowling average is now up to 26.62 and the only full series Warne has performed under that average since a serious shoulder operation three years ago was the wash-out tour of Sri Lanka, when Australia lost 0-1.

Steve Waugh has now captained Australia 24 times and Warne has played 19 of those matches for 61 wickets at a modest 35.15.

Figures under the current Australian captain are equally concerning for Mark Waugh, who remains this side's ultimate enigma. He was terrific in the last Test, making 70 and a top score of 57 in the second innings and taking six catches.

They included claiming the vital wicket of an in-form V.V.S. Laxman twice, with a fine, low catch at second slip and a spectacular horizontal take at mid-wicket which almost won Australia the match and the series.

Mark Waugh's catching remains one of the great pleasures in world cricket, but once again his figures have not stacked up at the end of a series.

He averaged under 30 for the three Tests and has now under- performed in five of Steve Waugh's past seven series as captain. The exceptions were in New Zealand last year and a fine summer against the West Indies.

Mark Waugh's overall average is now down from the mid 40s to 41.65 and under Steve it is 33.51 with just two centuries. In 14 Tests away in that time he averages 30 with no hundreds.

Compare this to Steve, who has made eight of his 25 centuries since becoming captain and has averaged 53, increasing it overall to 51. Australia has an ageing side so the selectors have a greater responsibility than ever to ensure that stability does not become stagnation.

With four series in a row behind it England will be at its toughest in a decade and-a-half when the five-Test Ashes series begins in early July. The Waughs will be 36 before then and Ricky Ponting will be the only player in the top seven under 30 by the end of the year.

Given he is just 26 his dreadful time against the off- spin of Harbhajan Singh, 17 runs at 3.4, can be written off, for the moment, as an aberration. Even with those appalling numbers, Ponting is still averaging 51 under Steve compared to 43 overall.

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