The coach, however, said he had no complaints with the boys, ``who, given their limitations, played well, especially in the Melbourne leg''. The Indian team arrived here late on Wednesday night from Melbourne, and is scheduled to attend an eight-day camp for the World Cup, which is to be played in Utrecht, Netherlands in May.

``I am not looking for excuses and there are some grey areas that need immediate attention, but we should not overlook the fact that some of our top players were not there in Australia. Seen in that perspective, there are several gains too, from the Australian sojourn,'' Baskaran said.

Baskaran expressed satisfaction with the penalty corner conversion on the tour. ``We tried several indirect patterns, and some of themclicked. This shows that we are moving in the right direction,'' he said.

The coach also pointed out that full back Anil Aldrin and left-half Ramandeep Singh had a ``very good tour''. ``I am happy with the way Aldy (Aldrin) shaped up, coming after a long lay-off due to injury. Now we won't have to worry about a third defender after Dilip Tirkey and Lazarus Barla. Even Ramandeep played very well,'' he said. Baskaran also praised Sabu Varkey, Rajesh Chauhan for their steady performance.

Another area where the coach felt an improvement has been made, is the off-the-ball running. ``We managed to confuse the opposition on several occasions, but it is unfortunate we could not convert them into goals,'' Baskaran said.

Baskaran felt that the inability to save penalty corners and loose play by the deep defenders led to several goals being scored against the team. ``Our defenders will have to do something about the passes to the mid-field. Some silly mistakes were made which cost us dear. I believe betterpreparation would have helped.''

Among the seven matches the Indians played on the tour, Baskaran said that the match against Australia in Melbourne was their best show and the 2-2 draw against New Zealand the worst. ``We played poorly against New Zealand. This lack of consistency at times worries me. We should have atleast played the finals,'' he said.

Meanwhile, Baskaran said that a blueprint for the 14-day camp prior to the departure for Utrecht had been worked out, and the details would be finalised tomorrow. The coach said that Patiala would be ideal place for the final camp, as it has a decoturf, which is similar to the one in Utrecht.The ongoing eight-day camp would stress more on improving fitness, with emphasis on the recovery of the players.

As for the seniors like Dhanraj Pillay and Mukesh Kumar, who missed out on the tour, the camp would be the ideal time to get back their rhythm. While Pillay missed the tour due to an injury on his right foot, Mukesh opted out for personalreasons.

BOVELANDER CLINIC POSTPONED: The proposed one-week clinic to be conducted by the former Dutch international penalty corner specialist Floris Jan Bovelander at the National Stadium here from April 24, has been postponed, an Indian Hockey Federation release informed today.

The clinic will now take place prior to the Commonwealth Games, which is being held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in September. The federation has given no reason for the postponement. Baskaran said that the postponement of the clinic would not affect the team's preparations. ``The camp will go on as proposed,'' he said.

Baskaran admitted that penalty coroner specialists like Gurmail Singh and Ronald Kiran had been included in the 31-player list for the Bovelander clinic. ``We won't ask them to go back. They can learn a lot here,'' he said.