Youngsters may be scarred by defeat

England captain Alec Stewart's biggest fear after his side lost all six matches in a triangular one-day international series is that they will be scarred by the experience.

Stewart, leading the team in the competition because Nasser Hussain is recovering from a broken thumb, voiced his fears after England suffered an eight-wicket defeat against Australia in the last round-robin match at The Oval on Thursday.

"Our biggest concern is that the younger players don't leave here scarred, having been involved in six defeats on the trot," Stewart said in a reference to such players as Owais Shah, Alistair Brown, Paul Collingwood and Ben Hollioake.

"When they come back from the Zimbabwe one-day series (in October) I hope their heads will be held high."

Stewart believes England, bowled out for 176 on Thursday, are not learning from their one-day defeats as quickly as they might.

"The 1996 and 1999 World Cups were two disappointing series for us, and we need to improve all round. We've got a lot of learning to do.

"But you're not going to see an improvement in six months. It will be in a 12 to 18-month period, which will give us a chance to gear up for the 2003 World Cup (in South Africa)."

Asked how the triangular series setbacks might affect morale ahead of the Ashes tests starting on July 5, Stewart said: "We've got five or six players coming back for the Ashes series and by the time it starts two weeks today we've got to make sure we get back to playing test cricket the way we've played for the past 12 months."

With the five tests against England in prospect, Australian vice-captain Adam Gilchrist did not think the side had peaked too early.

"I still think... there are one or two areas we can touch up on. It was a case of doing some fine-tuning today but we are heading in the right direction.

"Four years ago we were beaten 3-0 in the one-day series and then we lost the first Ashes test but we were able to swing the momentum around so we've got to expect England to do that and we must be ready for them."

Reflecting on fast bowler Brett Lee's contribution to the win at The Oval, where he took three wickets and generated significant pace, Gilchrist said: "It was nice to see Brett Lee warming in to his work and not overdoing it.

"He hasn't shown everything yet but he is certainly giving every indication he is getting back to full fitness after his injury lay-off, which is very encouraging."

Looking ahead to Saturday's final against Pakistan at Lord's, Gilchrist said: "The key for us is to remain disciplined and that's probably what we lacked a little bit in our bowling the other night (in losing to Pakistan at Trent Bridge).

"When we are able to bowl in the right areas, as we did today, then that enables Steve to set the fields we want to set to certain players and that is how we build up pressure."

Mail Cricket Editor