Australia Can Bank On ODI Series

Unless India can change the team psyche and Sri Lanka can bottle Angelo Matthews spirit, Australia  is pretty much assured of victory in the CBA currently being played at a major city arena, under lights, near you. That's the only conclusion you could draw after Michael Clarke's men have played average cricket to record successive wins in their opening two games, whilst the others scrap over a place in the final.

It shouldn't be this way, of course. Six months ago, the prospect of hosting the finalists of the the World Cup Final - played less than twelve months ago - was as daunting to the Australians as it was palatable to their masters but a cricket year can be a political week. Last April, in the din of Wankhede Stadium - surely the most ludicrously named sporting arena in the world - Sri Lanka set the home side a stiff task after Mahela Jayawardene produced the most memorable finals hundred since Clive Lloyd in 1975. India got home on the back of Gautum Gambhir and MS Dhoni, after Sehwag and Tendulkar had both been found out Malingaring early on. It was an awesome display and ODI cricket at its very best and more than eradicated the pathetic joke - or was it black humour - of the previous final finishing after curfew.

Where have all the flowers gone?

Both sides have eventually, reluctantly allowed younger players into their teams whilst retaining veterans and in the main, the new recruits have come up trumps. That's not the problem.

Their are obvious problems for both sides. India are exhausted from a dreadful campaign in Australia this summer and the knowledge that almost all of the senior players won't be back again. Its easier to lift yourself off the pitch, time and again, when you're 25 and have your legend ahead of you, waiting for you to fill in the numbers. Kohli is the best example of this. Whether his temperament is right for the job, he is India's future captain. He has it all to play for and he likes it that way. For the likes of Sehwag and Tendulkar and the already departed Dravid and Laxman, a crude Australian slang term best describes how every day has felt since mid January: they are buggered. Tired from constant kitbag companionship, every match is a joyless effort.

For Sri Lanka, existing on air and goodwill and representing a cricket authority who claims bankruptcy and therefore hasn't paid its players for nearly 18 months, they play ever game under duress. Their elders have the same problems of motivation as the Indians.

New energy at the helm

The essential problem is leadership. Australia have a new, vibrant leader who has delivered results and is backed with enthusiasm by the past coin tosser and increasingly, the Australia public. He arrived when the position was in flux and new systems were being constructed and he's had a say in the today and the tomorrow. He has nailed performances to honour boards on three continents since August and has respect from his players not because of his position but because of he has earned it. Declarations instead of milestones, inclusiveness, honesty and positivity and runs when they are needed make him easy to follow.

MS Dhoni talks and captains like a man whose head is turned away from the task and is about to lose his fingers in the machinery. His talk at press conferences is defensive, his answers excuses. His only vision is retiring from Test cricket to concentrate on ODI cricket: an odd choice for a man of such rich talent. That he would choose the path of hacks with a small patch of green grass in their paddock is a distressing. He has the Graham Yallop press conference persona, trying to explain every loss but becoming vaguer with each event. On the field, he lets things run - has all summer. In the Tests, it was hard to tell who was captaining the Indians.

Virat Kohli should already have the reigns of the ODI side. His captaincy would bring this Indian side alive again.

Mahela Jayawardene is back again in the top job for Sri Lanka but has made clear public statements that he won't be there for long. Twelve months and then he's handing it over, most likely disappearing into retirement. He's the third Sri Lankan captain in twelve months, having held the job previously. Kumar Sangakkara was skipper until the end of the World Cup, Tillarkaratne Dilshan took over and relinquished the role after South Africa beat them a month ago at Newlands. Playing hot potato with the captaincy is about the worst thing which can be done to improve an already low morale.

It begs the question, what was the point of appointing Angelo Mathews vice captain of the Test side and then overlooking him when the opportunity came for this short ODI series in Australia? Mathews is a spirited youngster, never concerned with the strength of his opponent and willing to have a go. His fine batting with the tail almost surprised the Australians in Perth after the home side's bowlers has dominated early. Like Kohli, he would set a new and more certain course for what has become a good looking but structurely flawed rudderless ship.

Australia has been far from perfect. In both games, the early batting has made for inadequate starts, causing some question over the sense in having two flamboyant strokemakers opening and followed by a man whose shots need the ball a little duller. The Hussey brothers are the trump cards in this current line, because they approach every bowler as a task and take nothing for granted. Clarke is still in Test form which will be enough in this series. The bowling has been impressive, especially Eggsaver Doherty. He is such an improved bowler since he was mauled by England last summer. However, there are weakness which Mathews exposed in the last fifteen overs in Perth. No one liked what Jayawardene had to say but he was at least partially right.

The most important issue of all in the CBA series is yet to be discussed in any forum ... the dark green costumes (I chose the word carefully) Australia wears are amongst the worst our one day sides have ever wore and must have been unpleasant in Perth's heat.

Bring back the canary yellow.