Tags: Vadodara , Tim Nielsen , Cricket , ODI series , Australian team

Vadodara: The Australian team, which has gone through a transitional phase following the retirement of several senior players, has started to settle down now and become competitive again, feels Coach Tim Nielsen.

"We have gone through a period where we have won a few games, lost a few games. The older players and younger players are gelling well as a team, learning a lot about each other as a team and are playing well," said Nielsen.

The Australians, in India for a high-octane seven-match ODI series starting here on October 25, are on a high after defending the ICC Champions Trophy event without the presence of three injured players -- vice-captain Michael Clarke, wicketkeeper Brad Haddin and left arm pacer Nathan Bracken.

Nielsen said the turnaround for the team, which was beaten at home by South Africa in the last southern summer, came in the subsequent visit to the Rainbow Nation.

"It (defeat against South Africa) certainly had a big impact for us. We had senior players who had moved on. Matthew Hayden had ended his career at that time. We had some younger players who were involved with the team for the first time. They did not like the fact we were losing," he said.

"They found international cricket very demanding. The Test and ODI series we lost in Australia had a big impact. By winning the Test series in South Africa, we were able to come back. Because we had lost we realised we needed to change and improve, need to do things differently," Nielsen said.

We had some young players coming in and the bowling attack changed through injury. Brett Lee was out. We had (Mitchell) Johnson already and (Peter) Siddle, (Ben) Hilfenhaus and (Doug) Bollinger coming into the team. They were willing to do things as well as they could.

"We got to a stage when we won 14 out of 16 ODI games in the past three series, Pakistan, England and the Champions Trophy. That's been very positive signal for us," the Aussie coach said.

Nielsen said it was a challenging 12 months for not only the youngsters but also the seniors in the team who used to be part of a winning combination for a long period.

"It was definitely challenging, for the seniors as well. They had been in a period of such success. We had to sit down and actually define how we need to play our best cricket and what we need to do to become competitive. We had to talk to every player and make sure they understood what was required of them.

"We had to start looking a little bit outside the square and taking different players to make sure we had more than 11 nor 12 players. You saw through the CT (that) without Bracken, Haddin and Clarke, we were able to cover their losses with three young players who came in," Nielsen said.

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