Australia will not sit on their laurels (Getty Images)

By Myles Hodgson, PA Sport, Johannesburg

Australia's response to becoming the first side to win the World Cup three times is to challenge the conventions of one-day international cricket and encourage their star players to become even more multi-dimensional.

Not content with having one of the most effective opening batsmen in one-day cricket with Adam Gilchrist or arguably the finest fast bowler in the world with Brett Lee, coach John Buchanan's blueprint for success for the next World Cup in the West Indies in 2007 is to make his players more flexible.

Instead of accepting each batsman or bowler has a natural strength on one side of their body - Gilchrist for example is a devastating left-handed batsman while Lee bowls right-handed at frightening pace - Buchanan will encourage the use of their less-favoured side.

"One of the things on the drawing board back home is a think tank about how the game is played and how we can play it differently," he explained.

"I think we play the basics of the game better than anyone else and a bit more consistently, but I think we can look at the basics and work out how they can be done differently.

"I believe we'll have players, hopefully by the next World Cup, who can use both sides of their body so if they're a left-hander hopefully they'll be able to use the right side of their body and vice versa."

Buchanan has already done some research into the theory and cites soccer, where some players are as strong with either foot, and Australian rules football as examples of sports where being ambidextrous can be a major advantage.

"We know it happens in soccer and we know it happens in Australian football so there's no reason to suggest it shouldn't be able to happen," he said.

"I'm sure it can happen with throwing, batting and possibly even bowling - I'm not sure if bowling could happen in four years but maybe it will happen in eight years' time.

"If we start to do that it might challenge some of the rules of the game and interpretation but they are the sort of things that we need to look at."

Two members of the current World Cup-winning squad, which is due to depart South Africa today ahead of ticker-tape celebration parades in both Melbourne and Sydney later this week, have already demonstrated a flair for using both sides of their body.

"Ian Harvey can already throw left and right-handed and Adam Gilchrist is good on both sides of the body when he's batting or hitting the ball, but obviously he does it reasonably well on one side at the moment so there's no reason to change it," said Buchanan.

"It's more for the future and not necessarily the players we've got now."

He is also keen to utilise the growing technology to aid cricket's development and believes the current use of computers by coaches and players to analyse their own game and opponents is only scratching the surface of the possibilities.

Buchanan said: "Every side has computers and databases and it's really how we can better utilise those things if we're going to have them - what impact can they actually have?

"I think they can have a much stronger impact and part of that will be understanding the technology and making it more accessible.

"There is a lot of information there so how do we wade through it better and then how do we better educate players and other coaches in its use to make it more effective?"

There was similar scepticism of Buchanan's off-beat ideas prior to the World Cup when he persuaded the Australian Cricket Board to hire American baseball coach Mike Young to help with the team's fielding and, apart from the final when they dropped three chances, their performances improved as a result.

"Mike brings a different concept about how to defend on the field and also about technique, body position, movement of the ball, throwing and arm speed," added Buchanan.

"He also provides a different view on tactics and I think he's helped us a lot. He has had two to three months' involvement with the side and the players would all agree what a benefit he has been."