Age Not A Factor With Aussies

Plenty of Indian people are saying the Aussies are getting old and it will cost them this tour. I say rubbish. Even some in Australia are mentioning age more than ever before, using pure statistics to draw some uneducated conclusions at times.

You cannot make any sort of judgment on a team, regarding it's age unless you are in the room with them. How many people do we all know who are good 60-year-olds or really young 40-year-olds with the constitution of much younger people?

Cricket players too could be the beneficiaries of stellar genes, unusually high-pain thresholds and extraordinary motivation to get the absolute best out of themselves, allowing them to defy chronological statistics. Being physical is only one part of this great contest between Australia and India.

Supreme stability in the Australian ranks has seen this team become the oldest team (average age 32.6) since 1932-33 in Australian cricket. They are giving up six years per man to India in the cricket world's toughest arena. Ninety percent of cricket however comes down to the psychological and this is where age comes in handy. How many years is this young Indian team handing straight back?

The ability to separate cricket and life when things don't go so well, being able to relax in between deliveries yet switch back every time for long periods and snatching initiative when an opportunity arises, is what cricket is all about.

Knowledge of and belief in one's ability are crucial and yet have precious little to do with the chronological. These players are keyed up and perfectly trained for this contest and much fitter physically than they need to be so that they can persist with concentration, patience and skill.

Bowling makes desperate calls for the above qualities and India must make Australia toilif they are to see a change in opponent.

McGrath is running in the best I have seen for years, Kasprowicz is hustling and bustling beautifully, Gillespie conserving pace for consistency with quality and Warne is fighting impressively. It is the facet of play where they could change and their depth looks good. Brett Lee chomping at the bit to target a rib cage or two would be an effective proposition in the last Test if required.

Watch to see who rebounds to form quickest between Lehmann, Yuvraj, Laxman or Patel. The team goal is to get more of your team playing to their potential than your opponent and this is letting India down more than Australia.

Both teams have superstars about to return without match-play under their belt. Players today are more able to turn up and find rhythm with just net practice to draw form but it must be tough doing what Tendulkar and Ponting are about to do. You just have to be rusty and full of what ifs, so attacks will be looking for answers in their favour with searching spells to both on their return to Test cricket.

Whether Sachin uses a lighter bat for preservation of his arm problem or not, it will help him. I felt in the last 12 months he had lost the flashing blade of previous years and let's hope that this will be the difference.

Ponting arrives to practice for a week and he will have a constant companion in the nets called Brett Lee, the man the captain has ruled out of playing this series.

Protective gear will be the order of the day for 'Punter' not just good gloves to protect the suspect thumb.

Another magic build up for the third Test with intrigue and mutiny all rumoured in Nagpur. The curator thumbing his nose at the Indian team's request for more of the same wicket as the first two. Normally high scoring draws are in order but these two teams are so intent on keeping things moving that I think an ascendancy is normally gained and sometimes clung onto, no matter what the pitch is doing.

Two groups stalking each other looking and probing for soft-spots with enough numbers in good form to pounce on a moment of vulnerability has produced exceptional games in recent history. This one won't be different.

I expect the same nerve-jangling see-sawing of five days and hopefully going the distance unlike Chennai. Who the rain saved might become evident as this one unfolds but one thing is for sure it was Australia that was spared some stressful back-breaking effort in the field.

There is no need to be concerned about the age of this Australian team. The future is far worse than the present when the team will be older than normal without the current experience. That won't be good, unless of course you are part of an emerging Indian outfit.

PTI