Buchanan still says future unclear

Australian coach John Buchanan believes the real impact of Steve and Mark Waugh's sacking from one-day cricket won't be known for 12 months as the new-look team moves towards its World Cup defence.

Buchanan said Australia's slick 5-1 thrashing of South Africa in the series which ended in Cape Town last night, was not an immediate justification of the dumping of the Waughs.

"Time will be the test of that. At the moment we've had a snapshot and it all looks progressively quite good," Buchanan said.

"The real test of all that will be come the end of the World Cup (next March).

"Even though we've had a very good result here I'm sure there is still a lot of experience we're lacking on the field.

"Certainly the players are dealing with that very well but at the time there were a couple of decisions which the selectors felt they had to make."

New captain Ricky Ponting can still call on one of the most experienced teams in one-day cricket with the likes of Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath, Michael Bevan and vice-captain Adam Gilchrist.

Ponting was not satisfied with his bowlers as they struggled through the last matches on tour in unhelpful conditions and Buchanan wanted more help for frontline quicks McGrath and Jason Gillespie.

"McGrath and Gillespie bowled well 70-80 per cent of the time through the series but our back-up with Brett Lee, Ian Harvey, Andy Bichel and Shane Watson hasn't given us the follow-up that we're looking for in those post-15 overs through to 35," Buchanan said.

"And we haven't finished off well either. We have to stack up for 50 overs, game after game if we're going to find our way into a reasonable position in the (World Cup) Super Six and hopefully go beyond that."

Buchanan and Ponting have formed an effective partnership in their first series in a fluent transition from the Waugh era.

"(I was) talking to Steve Waugh some time ago he always felt if he had to make a choice between the contenders, Ricky is the person he would have pumped for, for a range of reasons," Buchanan said.

Some of those reasons are he reads the game very well, he's good with the players around him, he is a person who can lead from the front with the bat or in the field and he has a great deal of passion for representing his country.

"Beyond that he has a great maturity about the game and his game."