Mumbai: Australia coach Tim Nielsen believes his team has dealt with the transition phase, that followed the retirement of several senior players, and has started to settle down and be competitive again.

“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,” Nielsen said.

Nielsen said the team, which was beaten at home by South Africa in the last southern summer, turned around 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… They (the youngsters) found international cricket very demanding. 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,” Nielsen added.

The coach clearly backs the young guns but his faith in experience is intact. Nielsen has said that Tim Paine’s impressive form with the bat notwithstanding, the wicketkeeper will have to make way for the injured Brad Haddin, once he has recovered.

“Haddin is the incumbent and the place belongs to him. Paine knows that he got into the squad just because Haddin was injured,” Nielsen said at a media conference.

“We also cannot forget that Haddin was in great form with the bat before he was injured. Paine has done well in whatever opportunities he has had but unfortunately there is place for only one wicketkeeper in the squad,” Nielsen added. (PTI)