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MacGill magnificent

The biggest thing in Australian cricket during the past week was the announcement of the team of the century; a best Australian XII selected from all the men who've worn the baggy green cap over the past 100 years. The final selection has created much debate, which only confirms what I believed from the start - that we could easily have chosen three or four teams of the highest possible standard. Such events are a wonderful reminder of the rich history of our game, and what an important responsibility we have to ensure that the work of the champions of the past is never forgotten.

It was great to see three of my contemporaries - Allan Border, Ian Healy and Shane Warne - in the squad. They joined Arthur Morris, Bill Ponsford, Sir Donald Bradman (captain), Neil Harvey, Greg Chappell, Keith Miller, Ray Lindwall, Dennis Lillee, and Bill O'Reilly. The team was announced at a function in Sydney where a vast number of the living former and current Australian internationals got together. Just to have these men under the one roof was a wonderful thing for the game, and for me a magnificent chance to chat with legends of past eras, to talk cricket and discover what made these champions tick.

Twenty-four hours after that never-to-be-forgotten function, we were back on the SCG, defeating Pakistan to go to the top of the tournament table. India's loss to Pakistan two days later in Hobart left them needing to win their remaining matches to make the finals but, in truth, the way they are playing, such a winning run seems unlikely. To me, it seems they are resigned to the fact that they will be going home early. It's been a tough tour for them, during which they've suffered from a lack of depth in their batting and an inability as a unit to adapt to the bouncy Australian wickets. They've been relying on too few players to get them through, and have missed a couple of key, experienced men who have been absent because of injuries. But perhaps their most noticeable weakness has been their fielding, where they have lacked men capable of getting that critical run out, or taking a difficult half-chance that might turn a game. That's been our strength in recent times, and also a distinguished feature of South African teams, the thing that has set us apart from many of our opponents.

However, India are not the first side to learn that an Australian tour is a tough one when things start to go wrong. But it is important they play well in their remaining matches, so that there will be something positive to come from their experience.

Pakistan, on the other hand, are playing with a lot of confidence. They are a very good side, with dangerous hitters all the way down their batting order and a bowling attack capable of knocking over any team. A very aggressive team, on their day they can beat anyone.

A satisfying feature of our displays through the tournament to date has been the contributions of players such as Andrew Symonds, Shane Lee, Stuart MacGill and Damien Martyn, who in the past haven't had the same high profile as some other members of the squad. We know now we have the all-rounders, such as Symonds, Lee and Adam Gilchrist, to match any other side in the game and the depth to know we can cover even Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne. We're also encouraged by the evolution of our late-order hitting, which in this competition has been akin to anything Simon O'Donnell managed so successfully for Australia in the mid to late 80s.

MacGill was sensational on his one-day debut, a genuine matchwinner in his debut game. I'd faced him in the nets the day before, and knew the ball was coming out of his hand just the way he'd like it to. I rate him as the biggest spinner of the ball in world cricket. With Warne still out, he could become a key weapon in this competition, especially against Pakistan, who in my view don't play the leg spinners as well as India's batsmen do.

Still, we know that the game can change very quickly, so we don't want to get carried away with our good form. We want to keep our winning form on track, and beat Pakistan three times in a row, to go into the finals in as positive a frame of mind as possible.

(Gameplan)

Steve Waugh