Former Australian captain Steve Waugh has said there was nothing wrong with being
"under the pump" in the lead-up to a big event such as the World
Cup.
"You always want to be under pressure. It's a much better
situation than going into a world cup and you feel as though everything is perfect
and you might have peaked too early," Waugh said.
Waugh contradicted his recently retired former teammate Shane
Warne, who said the team had put too much emphasis on training that had
led to the defeats in recent matches.
"That's rubbish. The guys aren't silly. Ricky (Ponting)
and the senior players have a major input into how the team functions and how
much training to do, so I'm very sceptical of that," Waugh said.
"They've got a lot of support staff. They're very professional,"
he was quoted as saying.
He said Andrew Symonds and Brett Lee were obviously
crucial players, but Australia had a history of finding others to step up to
the mark when they were needed.
"I don't think there are major problems right now - there's
a couple of injuries which are a bit of a concern. But losing a couple of one-day
games - that can happen to any side and I think this is a good challenge for
them," Waugh said.
Waugh, however, said Australia's current flat patch was inevitable,
and it was better that it came now than at the World Cup.
"I think they've played such good cricket that at some stage or other
they were going to have to lose a couple of games. It's not humanly impossible
to win every game and to be at your peak every time.
"They fell off the mark a little bit in the last few games, but they'll
make sure that they taper right, they peak at the right time, and get themselves
ready," he added.
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