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No letting up

Hardly have we had time to take in the glory of our successful Test summer, and the one-day internationals are upon us. Things move so quickly in cricket these days, but we are all aware of how things work, so there can be no excuses, and for us, no drop in our intensity. We want to win this competition, which means we must approach every match as being ultra-important, and not just as being simply another game. Sure, there's a large number of one-dayers being played around the world, but we must never treat any match as being anything other than special.

Of course, both our opponents in this competition are coming off 3-0 defeats in their most recent Test series, but in truth this will count for little once the limited-overs games begin. This is a new battle, a new form of the game. If anything, the setbacks suffered by our opponents will work as a spur, as they seek to re-establish themselves at the top of the cricket tree.

For me, there is no doubt that India will be more dangerous in the one-dayers than they were in the Test matches. We all know that they have some excellent one-day cricketers, including Robin Singh, who's joined their party and is someone we've pinpointed as being an important part of their strategy. Of course, Tendulkar, Dravid and Ganguly are all proven heavy run-getters in international one-day cricket, and Srinath and Kumble are excellent one-day bowlers. In all, a well-balanced one-day team. However, the critical factor will be whether their batsmen have now adapted to the bounce of the Australian wickets. In reality, during the Test series only Tendulkar, and VVS Laxman in that one special innings in Sydney, demonstrated that this was the case. Unless they can come to terms with the bounce quickly, fierce competitors such as McGrath, Lee, Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis will enjoy bowling at them, but Laxman's superb century must have given all of India great heart.

While it appeared that the Indians were a little dispirited by the conclusion of the Tests, I don't think they will have much difficulty picking themselves up for this new contest. Had the Test series continued on to five matches, they probably would have struggled to come back, but the change to the one-day game will be invigorating, so long as they do treat it as a new beginning.

I've found in the past that Test form doesn't count for much, if anything, when you move on to this new style of cricket. The key is the way they approach the matches, and in this regard I have no doubt that the senior figures in the squad, including coach Kapil Dev, will have to play a leading role. So long as India's attitude is positive, they certainly have the team to be very competitive. As we all know, more than once in the past couple of years, usually on the back of many rapid-fire runs from Tendulkar and Ajay Jadeja, they have been too good for Australia. This said, we've had our good days, too, most notably the match at The Oval during the recent World Cup. But even then, Jadeja made a hundred against us. His absence here through injury must weaken the Indian side.

Pakistan, meanwhile, will be looking for revenge for their loss in the World Cup final. I reckon we'll be facing a very pumped-up team in the competition opener on Sunday, and throughout the tournament. Like India, Pakistan are an excellent one-day unit, capable of beating anyone of their day. Overall, I think this will be a close one-day series, much closer than the Test matches.

As has been the case for the past two years, our selectors have made a number of changes from the Test XI, with Andrew Symonds, Adam Dale, Michael Bevan, Shane Lee and Damien Martyn coming into our squad. The latter four, of course, were in our World Cup-winning squad, while Symonds has played a few times for the Australian one-day team and is a very exciting prospect. In my view, crowds all around the world are going to get a lot of thrills from the way he attacks the game. Most certainly, he is up there with Jonty Rhodes as the game's best fielder, and in addition he's an aggressive batsman who plays his shots at every ball and a bowler capable of valuable contributions.

Brett Lee, having made a mark in Test-match cricket, now adds another dimension to our squad. I reckon he'll grab the one-day fans' attention just as quickly as he established himself in the longer version of the game.

Starting on Sunday with a packed house at the Gabba, this will be the first time that we, as a one-day combination, will play in front of our home crowd since winning the World Cup, so it's an exciting time for us. We desperately want to show our supporters that we are indeed the best one-day side in the world. In order to do this we have to stick to the same principles that we put into action over the past 12 months - working hard on our game plans, being very disciplined with our bowling and keeping our fielding standards at the highest level. And our batsmen must continue to be confident and aggressive, prepared to back their ability no matter what the situation.

If we don't do this, we know there are two very competitive sides, bent on gleaning something from this Australian summer, waiting to exploit any weakness we may show.

Gameplan

Steve Waugh