Cricket: Australians finally grasp new reality

By RICHARD BOOCK in Melbourne

They may have taken their time, but Australia are finally showing signs of appreciating the wisdom of that old adage, "The only constant in life is change."

The side who won the World Cup with an explosive top-order batting lineup have steadfastly refused to change their tactics as the summers have passed, and as a result find themselves in danger of missing out on their own tri-series finals.

While their talent is undeniable, their lack of strategic foresight, questionable ability to adjust and cowboy-like tendencies in the heat of battle have taken their toll during this series, although there are signs the penny is finally starting to drop.

Having embraced the new one-bouncer-an-over rule when bowling, but largely ignored it when batting, the hosts signalled yesterday that they were ready to change tactics.

Specialist one-day batsman Michael Bevan said the bouncer law and subsequent sequence of lower scores meant Australia would revise their policy of all-out attack in the first 15 overs.

"That's probably a philosophy that's worked well for us in the past, but I suppose you've got to treat every scenario differently," Bevan said.

"I think that we're finding in this series in particular that the scores have been lower than they have been in the past, and that's probably because of the short-ball rule.

"So we've just got to give ourselves a chance when we bat and perhaps not look to score as many runs as we have in the past."

His comments come weeks after New Zealand recognised the same implications of the new law and put in place a batting plan which took into account the changing one-day landscape.

In theory, if the perfect bouncer is bowled in each of the 50 overs, the innings can effectively be shortened by 8.2 overs - leading to greatly reduced totals.

Although the introduction of slow bowlers and batsmen who are strong off the back foot will partly nullify the bouncer effect, the influence will still be felt to some degree, as Australia are now appreciating.

"Obviously, we're not playing well in most facets, but in the past three matches against New Zealand we haven't batted out the 50 overs, so that's a starting point," Bevan said.

His comments follow tinkering with the Australian batting order earlier in the series, when the selectors experimented briefly with test hero Matthew Hayden before returning to the previously successful pairing of Adam Gilchrist and Mark Waugh.

Neither has prospered under the new rule, Gilchrist making just 52 runs in four innings and Waugh 71 in five, leading to questions about their role in next year's World Cup.

"At this stage we're not looking that far ahead," Bevan said. "It's the next two games that matter for us now."