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Coach wants Australia to move forward

'We'll address Sydney issues' - Nielsen

Cricinfo staff

January 13, 2008

	Tim Nielsen wants his players focussed on the cricket, not on what happened in Sydney © Getty Images

Australia's players will get together to address the issues that came out of the Sydney Test before they start their serious preparations for the Perth Test, according to the coach Tim Nielsen. Australia are pushing for a world-record 17th consecutive Test win after their nail-biting victory in an SCG match tarnished by a racism row, contentious catches and questions over sportsmanship.

"How it has affected different players in the group will be interesting to see," Nielsen told AAP. "We've had a nice break, we've had a chance to get away and process all the stuff that has been going on individually.

"We'll sit down as a group and see how each bloke has been affected by it and how they perceive it and make sure we have a pretty clear idea about how we want to go about it as we go forward individually and as a group. We won't start to do too much cricket until we get those things done. We need to make sure we are switched on come Monday morning."

The Test starts on Wednesday and Nielsen said he expected Ricky Ponting and Anil Kumble to get together to discuss the lingering issues out of Sydney before the third Test begins. Ponting said this week his parents had been forced to change their phone number after receiving abusive calls following the events at the SCG.

"Ricky has carried the can for us as far as having to front the press regularly and deal with these issues as captain," Nielsen said. "Ideally, we can sit down with him now and offer him some support and work through this as a group."

Nielsen said Australia played hard but fair, and he said there was no way his players would risk the reputation of the baggy-green just to win a match. "In those 50-50 calls, there is too much for our players to lose by being anything but honest," Nielsen said. "If they start playing with those sorts of things, they start degrading what 120 years of Test cricket has done for us."

© Cricinfo