Behaving or boring?

The WACA pitch could have perhaps been spared the headlines given how it turned out, but Greg Baum reflects on a rather quiet day in Perth, unlike the preceding Test in Sydney and its ugly aftermath, in the Age.

It looked like the end of the match - not the beginning. As the Australian and Indian teams took the field for the third Test at the WACA Ground yesterday, each player shook the hand of their opponents, football-style. That's 72 handshakes, 73 if you include the extra pat Australian captain Ricky Ponting gave Indian spinner Harbhajan Singh. At any rate, as the gesture count goes, it was a day-one record.

Writing in the Herald Sun, Robert Craddock wonders if the subdued on-field attitude of the Australians will affect their performance.

No doubt Australia's on-field persona will thaw out in time to finish somewhere between their current mood and the boisterous intimidation of Sydney.

But it will be interesting to see whether a more subdued approach to verbal intimidation takes some of the sting out of Australia's game.

Steve Waugh gives his take on the day's play in the same newspaper, and says Australia were conscious of their image right from the first major appeal of the day.

They were appealing with great gusto and then suddenly they weren't.

In fact they were not sure what to do or how to appeal, an obvious post-script to the scrutiny of the side's behaviour in the second Test at the SCG.

Meanwhile, news.com.au reports the Indian team has been provided with a police escort for their trip from the team hotel to the ground.