Sensational dives might yet wow the crowds and serve as benchmarks for fine fielding in cricket, but the hard-nosed Australians are looking well beyond the alert photographer’s Kodak moments, to set higher standards. As if a Brett Lee bouncer or an Andrew Symonds smash-six was not terrorising enough, the Australians are now looking to bring in their brand of intimidation into fielding as well, guided in this new mission by their fielding coach Mike Young, an audacious American-born ex-baseball coach.

Young’s been around for a while — five years of many spurt-stints with the national team and coaching at their Adelaide academy — and in the Champions Trophy, he shed light on what the ever-inventive Aussies have been up to, heading into the big 2006-07 season. “For the last two years, we have been studying batsmen from all teams and have designed particular plans for each of them. It’s like set-plays for every player, where 8 times out of 10, we are likely to hit the stumps,’’ he says, with an air of menace, which the Indians are likely to witness today.

“We’ve been working on combinations with right and left-handed fielders, and Michael Clarke (an ambidextrous left-handed thrower) fits in well,’’ Young adds. An analysis of each batsman’s shots, and a corresponding placement of a particular fielder is all part of the plan. “We are past the skills bit, and are now looking for design-plays,’’ he says.

So while teams from the subcontinent get their blokes to enjoy the drills — the art of fielding needs to be enjoyed, it is stressed — the Aussies have progressed to scheming science, with clinical precision.

... contd.