As the poor fielding has become a hot debate among Australian management soon after the practice game against India Board President’s XI, the visitors’ stand-in coach David Saker believes the fielding is bound to play a significant role in the forthcoming bilateral series against India.
Saker has also warned the players in a bid to improve their fielding while wrestling against World No. 3 ranked India in One-day internationals.
“We’ve talked about that and we know fielding is going to play a big part in this series [against India],” Saker was quoted as saying by Cricket Australia.
Pertinently, Australian fielders put down four catches on September 12 (Tuesday) which has eventually become the cause of the concern for the interim mentor Saker.
The former right-arm first-class fast bowler Saker further boasted the Australia has a history of doing well in the fielding, as he revealed they are looking forward to yielding the desired results while spending the quality time on fielding sessions.
“Australian cricket do pride themselves on being one of the best fielding teams in the world so we’ll keep working on that in the next few days,” Saker added.
Saker is hopeful of seeing the unit come hard against the formidable India while lifting their fielding to a next level.
Batting for the positive attitude, the Melbourne-based 51-year-old Saker urged his wards to give their best in the fielding which has thoroughly played significant part across all three formats of gentleman’s game.
“We’ve talked about attitude and I think with fielding the big thing is attitude. I think if you bring the right attitude, generally you field quite well,” Saker admitted.
(Read Also: India vs. Australia 2017: Whitewash against Australia May Not be Possible — Sourav Ganguly
Saker’s comments came after Australia had a below-par fielding in the only practice game which they anyway won by 103 runs in Chennai after the hosts were chasing down the target of 348 in 50 allotted overs.
“We really let ourselves down in the field. That was disappointing that we dropped some catches,” Saker further added.
However, the hosts India side led by Gurkeerat Singh Mann was bowled out for 244 runs in 48.2 overs.
Interestingly, considered as the best fielders in Kangaroos side – skipper Steven Smith and inconsistent all-rounder Glenn Maxwell spilled two chances.
In the end, Saker who believes giving confidence to the players would bring a lot to the table while adding the visitors will give their best performance.
“I think they [both skippers] will just go out and play some good cricket. Once Sunday comes everyone will be buzzing and wanting to perform,” Saker asserted.
(Read Further: IND vs. AUS 2017: Five Most Memorable ODI’s between India and Australia)
Saker, who bagged 247 wickets in 72 first-class matches between the timeline of 1994 to 2003, admitted the players claimed some good catches including all-rounder James Faulkner’s one-handed catch of captain Gurkeerat on the bowling of left-arm orthodox spinner Ashton Agar.
“We took two or three really nice catches but we can’t afford to be dropping four or five catches and missing run outs as well, Saker concluded.
Moreover, the explosive batsman Travis Head and the 25-year-old leg-spinner Adam Zampa grassed two forward chances in the single fixture, before the series will be beginning at M.A Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Sunday (August 17).