CB series 1st Finals: Match Preview - Australia in danger of sad farewells

[IndianRenegade]

Australia v India, CB series, 2nd final, Brisbane Australia in danger of sad farewells The repercussions of a second finals defeat go further than Australia losing a tri-series that has been so important to the country over the past 29 years. Another slip on Tuesday would lead to two of the team's long-term players bowing out a couple of days early without a satisfactory send-off.

The second final in Brisbane could be the last appearance in Australian colours for Adam Gilchrist and, if he is picked, Brad Hogg

At the moment the timing of the Adam Gilchrist and Brad Hogg retirements depends on the result at the Gabba and in the side's current form an early and empty-handed exit would not be unexpected. Gilchrist will have a say in the outcome, but the spot of Hogg is not as secure and Australia will consider Stuart Clark as they try to smother India on a bouncy surface. In the other dressing room a much happier scenario applies to Sachin Tendulkar, who capped his last series in Australia with a composed century to seal the six-wicket win in Sydney. There has been no public decision on his future, but another trip to Australia is as unlikely as Harbhajan Singh seeking residency here. When Tendulkar spoke about his 117 on Sunday night he was content, which is a worrying sign for Australia. "It was extremely good to go one-up in the series, the first blow is what matters," Tendulkar said. "We don't have much time before the second final, but we have to get up and put up a good show. We are up for it and we want to continue this winning performance." The tourists are desperate to go home and the prospect of staying in Australia for another couple of days is not attractive. Controversy is raised with almost every gesture, word or gloop of saliva and the tour has worn down everyone. Another performance like the one India gave on Sunday would end the season of theatrics, which has been combined with gripping contests. Over the past decade it has been rare to see Australia controlled and their five games against India have resulted in two successes each and one washout. The home team is concerned and after the SCG defeat Ponting had to remind his players that they pride themselves on their output in big games. When the most important tussle of the limited-overs season arrived they were overrun. "You would be un-human not to have a little bit of a hit to the confidence when you're not getting the results that you're looking for," Australia's coach Tim Nielsen said. "That's the challenge of elite sport. Our challenge at the moment is to keep these blokes up and get them in a state of mind that gives them every opportunity." The assignment has become much harder as they prepare for their third match in five days. Only three times have Australia lost the opening game of the home finals and come back to take a three-match series - twice against South Africa in the 1990s and once in 2005-06 against Sri Lanka. On three occasions when they have lost the opening encounter the contest has been concluded in two affairs, including last year's 2-0 defeat by England. That result embarrassed the hosts and as the tri-series concept prepares to depart the same emotion is being felt. While Australia are low, India are on a massive high. The young team accepted many handshakes from local and Indian well wishers during their travel from Sydney to Brisbane on Monday and they were relaxed by their success. Ishant Sharma (finger) and Tendulkar (groin) have nagging concerns - the batsman's injury has been troubling him for a while - but both are confident of playing. Two spinners will not be used at the Gabba, which is bad news for Piyush Chawla, who bowled well in Sydney, and Irfan Pathan's treatment from Matthew Hayden may create some discussion. With each team leaning towards an extra fast bowler a summer of high energy may end in a battle of speed. The swing-friendly conditions mean Sreesanth should come in for Chawla and he is more likely to move the ball through the humid Brisbane air than the seamer Munaf Patel. Although a couple of light showers are predicted for Tuesday, there should be no repeat of the heavy rain that forced the abandonment of the opening match of the series. On that occasion India's bowlers had the best of the conditions and the home side was reduced to 3 for 51. Since then things have got only slightly easier for Ponting's men. Australia's major worry is their batting form and more meetings were held on Monday in an effort to fix the problem. The tension continues to increase and with one more slip they will be out of their own competition forever. If that happens Hogg and Gilchrist will never return. Australia (likely) 1 Matthew Hayden, 2 Adam Gilchrist (wk), 3 Ricky Ponting (capt), 4 Michael Clarke, 5 Andrew Symonds, 6 Michael Hussey, 7 James Hopes, 8 Brett Lee, 9 Mitchell Johnson, 10 Nathan Bracken, 11 Stuart Clark. India (likely) 1 Sachin Tendulkar, 2 Robin Uthappa, 3 Gautam Gambhir, 4 Rohit Sharma, 5 Yuvraj Singh, 6 Mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt, wk), 7 Irfan Pathan, 8 Praveen Kumar, 9 Harbhajan Singh, 10 Sreesanth, 11 Ishant Sharma. Peter English is the Australasia editor of Cricinfo © Cricinfo

[Dravid]

we ruined waugh's.. time to ruin gilly's :D

[Rajiv]

lets just wait till 2nd finals

[IndianRenegade]

Nielsen calls for Australia to get tough Peter English in Brisbane March 3, 2008 Tim Nielsen wants Australia to emerge from their first-final loss with an aggressive mind-set during the key moments of their must-win encounter at the Gabba on Tuesday. Nielsen was disappointed his team stumbled a couple of times when it had control at the SCG, where India won by six wickets, and asked the players to sharpen their outlook after two sloppy defeats in three days.

Tim Nielsen wants Australia to make sure they don't throw away any momentum gained over India

"It's probably the mental side of the game that's let us down in the last couple of games," Nielsen said. "We had a couple of situations [at the SCG] when we felt we were on top and then gave our wickets away, which then put us back under pressure. For us to have some success in this series we have to make sure we take the game by the throat when we have the opportunity and don't give up that momentum." The 100-run partnership between Matthew Hayden and Andrew Symonds threatened to revive Australia after they were 3 for 24 in Sydney, but both batsmen departed to outfield catches in quick succession and they were in more severe discomfort at 5 for 135. The home side also sensed a chance shortly before the halfway stage of the India innings and was unable to maintain the bowling or fielding intensity required to prevent India from cruising to victory. Team meetings were held in the dressing room after Sunday's game and in Brisbane on Monday as they contemplated how to fight back. "The biggest challenge for all of us is not to get too carried away with one loss," Nielsen said. "We certainly had a chat last night and Ricky put it pretty clearly what he expected from the group, not just about playing cricket but the way we present ourselves and the way we go about our things. We want to make sure we're competing for 100 overs of the game." Australia's players feel comfortable at the Gabba and are excited to be playing on a pitch with bounce and carry, especially when compared with the lower and slower surfaces around the country. The team will accept any advantage knowing that it has to win the second match to extend the series to a third final in Adelaide on Friday. "It is a tough challenge, it's not the ideal situation to be in, to be 1-0 down," Nielsen said. "India played better than us and we didn't play to our potential, so our challenge now is to have a quick turnaround and get ready to go and put our best foot forward." Peter English is the Australasia editor of Cricinfo © Cricinfo