Time to focus on cricket: Aus coach

Perth: The image crisis that has hit the Australians after the ill-tempered Sydney Test against India has left coach Tim Nielsen concerned about how his world champion wards will get their focus back on cricket ahead of the Perth Test.

The Australians are just one match away from securing a record-breaking 17th straight Test win but far from being cheered before the big game, Ricky Ponting and co. are having to deal with condemnation for their lack of sportsmanship in Sydney.

Nielsen said the Australian players, who regroup here on Monday, will have to face upto the situation before thinking about cricket.

"We'll sit down as a group and see how each bloke has been affected by it and how they perceive it and make sure we have a pretty clear idea about how we want to go about it as we go forward individually and as a group," Nielsen told reporters here.

"We won't start to do too much cricket until we get those things done," he added.

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The coach felt the break between the controversy-hit Sydney match and the upcoming Perth encounter has given the players time to get over the furore but it would be "interesting to see" how the individuals have reacted to the situation.

"We've had a nice break, we've had a chance to get away and process all the stuff that has been going on individually," he said.