Waugh tells his batsmen to shape up

Steve Waugh on Wednesday challenged his top-order batsmen to mend their ways on the eve of the triangular one-day series with the West Indies and Zimbabwe, saying they were to blame for the team's recent poor limited-overs record.

While Australia have won a record 15 successive Tests, they have been victorious in just two of their past eight one-day internationals.

It's a record skipper Waugh wants to correct, starting with Thursday's opening game against the West Indies at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

"We had a talk amongst the batters this morning," said Waugh.

"It wasn't about going on a witch-hunt or analysing every ball, it was about our attitude."

Waugh, who will be playing his 300th one-day international, said the "responsibility fell on all the batsman" for the team's run of outs.

"We weren't playing as well as we have been playing, our shot selection was poor and our running between the wickets wasn't good," he said.

"We weren't showing enough respect for the game and we weren't showing enough respect for ourselves in the way we play the game."

But while Waugh identified Australia's batting as their recent one-day weakness, it is the attack that looks threadbare this time.

For the first time this summer both Brett Lee and Jason Gillespie will be unavailable through injury while Damien Fleming and Michael Kasprowicz are still on the comeback trail.

That leaves Glenn McGrath and first gamer Nathan Bracken as the only specialist pace bowlers in the 12-man squad and Bracken will be under pressure to maintain his place after Fleming took 3-18 for Australia A against the West Indies on Tuesday.

And the Aussies also have a history of beginning one-day tournaments poorly, having lost their opening tri series game in the past three years.

Waugh is expecting a far more even one-day series than the 5-0 Test whitewash over the West Indies with the tourists having already shown they will be a handful in the shortened game after thrashing Australia A in Adelaide on Tuesday.

"It certainly is a game that evens up the skill level," Waugh said. "There is more scope for surprises in one-day cricket.

"There is no guarantee we are going to win every game but if we play to our ability the other sides are going to find it hard to beat us."

Waugh said the West Indies' form in the last three Test matches showed they were improving while he said Zimbabwe would be more than a handful.

Teams:
Australia - Steve Waugh (captain), Adam Gilchrist, Mark Waugh, Ricky Ponting, Michael Bevan, Damien Martyn, Darren Lehmann, Andrew Symonds, Ian Harvey, Shane Warne, Nathan Bracken, Glenn McGrath (12th man to be named).
West Indies - Sherwin Campbell, Wavell Hinds, Brian Lara, Marlon Samuels, Jimmy Adams (captain), Ricardo Powell, Ridley Jacobs, Laurie Williams, Mahendra Nagamootoo, Nixon McLean, Cameron Cuffy, Sylvester Joseph (12th man).

Mail Cricket Editor