Cluttered star minds can't confuse bowling spirit

The last time India toured Australia John Buchanan was irritated his team was distracted by "deal-making and sponsors" and slipped a harsh letter under each of the players' doors. It might be time Tim Nielsen, the new coach, devised a similar ploy for his big-name batsmen who have been dug out twice by the fantastic performances of the low-key bowlers.

Matthew Hayden, Andrew Symonds and Ricky Ponting are struggling and if it was not for the men at the bottom of the order the team would be at the foot of the tri-series instead of the top. The bowlers deserve buckets of praise and could be forgiven for writing to the batsmen asking them to lift their standards.

A copy of Buchanan's note was posted under the wrong door in 2003 and soon the world knew of Australia's internal conversations, which ranged from "deal-making" and "sponsors" to "Tugga's farewell to Adelaide". Replace Steve Waugh's nickname with Adam Gilchrist's and not much has changed in more than four years. It's not too hard to imagine how the same groups of issues could lead to clutter in the minds of Twenty20's most wanted.

The senior players on the Indian Premier League's wish-list are contemplating a huge increase in their bank balances and not-so-secretly wishing next month's Pakistan series is cancelled due to security issues. That way they could cash-in on Twenty20 instead of representing their country and fulfilling obligations that have been planned since before the birth of the game's new format.

Gilchrist's emotional, country-wide farewell has added to the distractions, just like Waugh's did, and the upshot is below-par batting and fielding. A century to Gilchrist and excellent returns from the back-up bowlers covered up the sloppiness in Perth on Friday, and James Hopes, Nathan Bracken and Mitchell Johnson did it again in Adelaide when they operated without the resting Brett Lee. Michael Clarke's 79 also helped mask the severe problems as the team scrambled to 9 for 203, which was 50 too many for India.

At the toss Ponting spoke of the need for the top batsmen to start contributing, but they flopped again. Ponting and Symonds have been heavily involved in finding reasons why the Australians should be allowed to join the IPL in April. While they have been looking to India their form has disappeared, and Hayden has joined the drought. In five games Symonds has 38 runs and Ponting 53; Hayden has fared slightly better with 84 in four.

Even before the current issues Ponting was busy with the Harbhajan Singh trials and suffered with a lower-back injury at the conclusion of the Test series. If he wasn't so interested in spending potential downtime in India he could justify having a mid-series rest. The most glaring example of Ponting's lack of focus was an attempted slog-sweep off Munaf Patel, a shot he would never consider with a clear mind, and especially not when he was on 5.

India bowled well but most of Australia's batsmen let themselves down. Ponting cut straight to point, Hayden edged playing too close to his body, Symonds glided to gully and Michael Hussey was frustrated into driving at a wide outswinger. Only Clarke was able to harness the tunnel-vision and work through the troubles on a deceptive pitch.

A similar strong attitude was carried by the bowlers, who are quite a few rungs down the celebrity pole than the run-makers. Hopes was incredibly tight and deserved his two wickets, Bracken was just as suffocating and Johnson and Brad Hogg collected important breakthroughs. They played with the love and excitement of people who would not swap their spots for any amount of US dollars.

In the field Australia were below their best again, missing balls, giving away overthrows and failing to grasp another slips catch. The distractions are obvious but they managed to succeed in gaining another bonus point. They really operate as a team, covering the weaknesses amid all the disruptions, but the bowlers know they are owed. Letters for the batsmen may arrive from a couple of sources.