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Awesome Aussies have no worries
England head into Tuesday's semi-final without a win over their old rivals in their last 14 one-dayers.
Adam Gilchrist was standing by himself in one section of the indoor nets centre at Edgbaston on Monday. He contemplated the large area that had been cleared of any distractions, just the three stumps placed at one end. Suddenly, he looked up at the roof, rubbed his forehead and massaged the back of his neck. Just as suddenly, he dropped his hand, took aim and threw the ball at the stumps. He missed.
He grinned, rubbed his neck again and proceeded to hit the stumps. And then, he kept throwing at and hitting the fallen practice stumps. There was no let up, no breaks to think and no sign of any headache. It was pure focus.
Watching the Australians at practice can be a scary experience. First, their reputations precede them. Then, they somehow give the impression of being modern-day warriors. God knows why! They have the same bats, wear the same helmets, the same guards as any other players. They go through similar routines. There is the same banter when someone goofs up, there's always a player who is the jester in the pack.
Yet, the ball seems to fly off the bat with that much more force. There's a sense of purpose to everything they do. And the players, whether it's the rugged Darren Lehmann or the lithe Michael Clarke, manage to give an impression of menace that perhaps only Brian Lara has from among the other teams.
Perhaps it's just that intangible thing called confidence. Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer had mentioned the other day that one of the things that makes Australia the best team in the world is the habit of winning, which begets tremendous self-belief. And Australia look tremendously assured.
Ricky Ponting said they were taking their Champions Trophy semi-final against England here on Tuesday much as they would any other game. "We like to keep things low-key, not worry unnecessarily about anything," said the self-possessed Australian skipper after the practice.
Ponting is obviously not very worried. Statements like "Vaughan is a good player but his lack of form will be something he'll be thinking about when he comes to the crease"; "Flintoff has been outstanding with the bat and we did have a look at some footage on him but nothing more than that on others"; and "I think we have more firepower (bowlers) than England if the ball is seaming" are not the sign of a worried man.
It would be difficult for him to worry. After all, England have not beaten Australia in one-dayers in four-and-a-half years and however well they have played Test cricket this summer against the West Indies and New Zealand, it is unlikely they will improve their record against the world champions.
And the Australians are not overconfident, just factual. "We just make sure we are doing everything we can to stay ahead of everybody else," said Ponting, adding, "And I think we are just ahead."
Interestingly, the only signs of worry came when he made reference to the upcoming Test series against India. He twice mentioned it, both times when he was asked about England as a Test team (next year's Ashes series) and whether the Australians thought anyone could test them. "Before that we have a very big series coming up in India," he said.
And then added at the end: "We'll know how good we are when we are through with the series in India. That's when we can really assess where we stand and where we have to go as a team."
Ominous words for India, beaten here by England in the NatWest Challenge series, beaten by Pakistan on Sunday and probably trying to make sense of how they fell apart as a team as they head back home.
