Australia in SA
Nielsen sings another tune
2009-02-18 20:39
Jaco van der Merwe - Beeld
Potchefstroom - Australian cricket coach Tim Nielsen is taking care not to make a fool of himself again.
He learned a costly lesson recently when he insulted South Africa prior to the test series in Australia and afterwards suffered the humiliation of a 2-1 series defeat. Now he’s singing a different tune before the first Test starts at the Wanderers next week Thursday.
“Tests are never easy, especially not against a team that is as hot as South Africa. It will be a huge challenge learning from the mistakes we made against them in Australia,” Nielsen said on Wednesday after the team’s first training session on their tour of almost two months.
“It’s difficult to win over confidence when you have not won the Test series.
“I think it was a perception that Australia were conceited for several years. We won so many matches and series’ that people mistook our confidence for arrogance.”
Nielsen said Michael Clarke would be fit for the first Test.
He will not play in the three-day warm-up game against a Presidents XI, which starts on Friday, because of a back injury that kept him out of action against New Zealand last week.”