Series ideal for bowlers

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Australia coach Tim Nielsen believes the one-day series against India is the ideal stage to blood the next generation of bowlers.

It has been a tough tour so far for Nielsen's side, with a 2-0 defeat in the Test series followed by a close loss in the second one-day international in Vizag on Wednesday, after the first match in Kochi was abandoned due to rain.

But speaking ahead of the third and final one-day international in Margao on Sunday, Nielsen said there had been several positives to emerge from the trip.

"It's been good, especially for our bowling group," Nielsen said.

"We had both [fast bowler Mitchell] Starc and [fast bowler John] Hastings debut in the Vizag game."

"[Fast bowler Clint] McKay's probably only played 10 one-day internationals, [all-rounder Steven] Smith's probably only played 10 one-day internationals."

"It's been an excellent experience for our young bowling group, and it was nice to see our senior players in [Michael] Clarke, [Michael] Hussey and [Cameron] White, as the senior batters, really stand up and give us a competitive total."

Nielsen was quick to defend embattled off-spinner Nathan Hauritz, who he said would emerge a much better bowler for his experience on the sub-continent.

"He's had performances in Test cricket that have been better than he's had here in India but we talk about experiences - it was a massive learning curve for him," he said.

"We've talked quite a bit since the end of the second Test match and just getting used to the conditions - probably the slowness of the wickets here, the lack of bounce in the wickets here that he normally does get some assistance with in Australia."

"He's a better bowler for it. He's got two or three Sheffield Shield games when he gets back to Australia to put these things he's learnt into play and I'm sure he'll be ready come the first [Ashes] Test match."

"I think Hauritz has done a good job in one-day cricket over the past 18 months. If anything what we're lacking is the experience in our fast bowling group that we've had in the past."

Nielsen believes talk of his team's demise is premature, pointing to the competitiveness of all the matches so far on the tour and said the mood in the camp is upbeat.

"It's very positive, that's the benefit of having young, inexperienced players - they're just really excited about every opportunity they get to play for Australia," he said.

"We've played one [one-day] game and made 290 and just got beaten. It's like the first Test in Mohali - one ball and everybody's saying how well we played. We're not panicking at all."

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