Committed to PEOPLE'S RIGHT TO KNOW
Vol. 5 Num 952 Sat. February 03, 2007  
   
Sports


Gilchrist stays upbeat


Australia's stand-in skipper Adam Gilchrist remained upbeat about his side's form despite the 92-run defeat to England in Sydney on Friday.

Gilchrist was dismissed for a golden duck as Australia were bowled out for 200, chasing England's 292-7.

He said: "We were pretty average, but I don't think there's reason for concern.

"But we set pretty high standards, and when we don't meet those standards, people will always be a bit critical, and we'll be critical on ourselves."

Australia sit atop the triangular one-day series table, with three times as many points as England and New Zealand.

They are already guaranteed a place in the finals, which start on 9 February.

Gilchrist said: "We won't get too down and out about this, but certainly we want to work on the areas we think we can improve on from this game.

"Batting-wise I got us off to a bad start and that set the tone for the innings -- so it was a bad day for us.

"We didn't bowl particularly well either -- we didn't hold it together in the middle and late stages. "