Cricket: Gilchrist Places Trust in Studious Cut and Thrust

Australia more often than not have used the broadsword rather than the rapier to cut opposition down to size. They have won countless Tests with attacking fast and spin bowling backed up with more close fielders than you could shake a stump at. And gung-ho batsmen.

But when they beat India by 217 runs yesterday to take a 1-0 lead in the four-Test series, they did so by employing more subtle tactics and by playing ordinary, if high-quality, cricket. Now a first series win in India in 35 years looks a distinct possibility.

When it was all over, and the stand-in captain Adam Gilchrist had had time to think it through, he explained that the entire team had learned from their recent defeats by India and had decided to pay them a little more respect.

"We've been in this position [1-0 up] before," he said. "But we've got a different confidence in our team as opposed to three years ago, when I didn't know what it was like to lose a Test match.

"I probably had no fear. I think it's nice to have a little bit of fear and a little bit of understanding of what it means to lose and what it takes to win. I think that personifies what the whole team is thinking.

"We've got a better balance on that now, combined with better preparation and better planning. We played really well, coming very close to our game plan, and we're thrilled.

"We've learned a lot from the last time we were here and also from that defeat in Adelaide in the last series after we scored 500 in the first innings. You shouldn't really lose a Test from there but we found a way. We're a different team now and we have a better understanding of conditions. We've been more versatile.

"This looks like a crushing win, but it doesn't mean there's a huge gap and we expect India to come back."

Australia, basically, have been more thoughtful and patient in their approach to India's high-quality batsmen. The pace of Brett Lee was not used. But Glenn McGrath, a little slower, a little fuller in length and bowling straighter to split fields, has been mightily effective. Like Shaun Pollock, who has also lost some pace, he remains a fine bowler.

Their batsmen, too, have been less aggressive, at the start of their innings at least, with the coach John Buchanan stressing the importance of the number of overs they bat and not only the number of runs per over.

Like Minerva in Roman mythology - and Athene in Greek - they have shown that wisdom and war can come together. And their more measured approach will be of great benefit when the heat and humidity are turned up in Chennai this week and then, after Nagpur, in Mumbai.

The reverse swing employed by McGrath and Michael Kasprowicz was another salient feature. McGrath said last night: "Until now we've said, 'Oh, that's fortunate, the ball's reversing.' But this time the bowlers really discussed it and tried things in training. We controlled it much better."

Shane Warne, though fitter and bowling better than last time he was here, if a little faster and flatter, has been largely contained and yesterday failed to take the two wickets he needed to regain the world record from Muttiah Muralitharan.

His two wickets earlier in India's second innings gave him match figures of four for 193, not that that caused Gilchrist any concern. "Shane's figures will be analysed and scrutinised and people will say he didn't have an effective game, but I beg to differ.

"We've got an attack based around fast bowling, and some may say that Shane's a support bowler. But he's got the most dangerous man we've come across in world cricket out twice in this game. So if he gets eight in the series and they're all VVS Laxman I'll take that."

Australia were the better team but winning the toss and getting the better of the umpiring gaffes, a point conceded by Gilchrist last night, also helped.

They needed four wickets yesterday and finished the job shortly after lunch, though they were delayed by a ninth-wicket stand of 89 - a record against them by India - by Harbhajan Singh and Irfan Pathan, who scored his maiden Test fifty.