Buchanan's contract extension undecided

The position of John Buchanan, the man who led Australia through an unprecedented era of success, hasn't been officially discussed by Cricket Australia even though his current contract expires next month. Michael Brown, the CA general manager of cricket operations, told the Herald Sun previous talks had only been "chewing the fat" and he wasn't even clear whether Buchanan wanted to stay in the post.

"We actually haven't had that discussion yet," Brown told the paper. "I am assuming that [he does want the job]. I really haven't had that discussion. The bulk of these discussions will be held during September and into October."

Buchanan's mantle has slipped with his team's and he has been criticised for the bowlers' excessive no-balls, the batsmen's inability to cope with reverse-swing, a decline in fielding standards and being unable to lift the squad in the break before the fourth Test. He has also had to deflect questions about hiring specific batting and bowling coaches as Australia have fallen behind in the series.

"I'm not even thinking about that," Buchanan said of his future. "It's not a factor in my consideration. My consideration is to simply try and make sure we go into this game in the best possible shape and give ourselves the best possible chance to win it. If we don't win it well then obviously there are other decisions to be made after that."

At a pre-Ashes training camp in Brisbane, Buchanan set out his plans for the team until the 2007 World Cup, but his negotiating power for a new contract will be influenced by the result of the series-deciding Test at The Oval starting on Thursday. However, Brown said Buchanan had CA's 100% support.

"From my point of view he is doing a fantastic job for Australian cricket," he said. "He's been a really successful coach in a really successful era. We haven't even got to the point of discussions about whether he is going on or not. At the moment he is flat out doing a job."

During Buchanan's reign Australia have won 53 matches and lost only ten, and he was part of 15 of their record-breaking 16 victories between 1999 and 2001. He told AAP Australia needed only to conquer a few "mental battles" to set up the final Test.

"We will then have the capacity to score 400-plus in the first innings, a result that we haven't been able to do so far... and the same with the bowlers, the same with the fieldsmen," he said. "[The final Test] is different, definitely. Basically it is a one-game tour, in a sense what has happened before, both from us and England, is irrelevant."

Geoff Marsh, who Buchanan replaced in 1999, said Australia needed to mirror the attitude of their remarkable six-match and one-tie streak on the way to lifting the World Cup six years ago. "After we lost to Pakistan at Headingley we had a team meeting and once the players realised what they had to do, they walked out of that meeting with an outstanding attitude," Marsh told AAP. "Once they realised the job in front of them they regained their focus, their work ethic lifted, and they went from coasting to working hard at training, and they got some momentum up and took some positive risks."