 Ian Chappell won the toss and elected to bat on the suspect surface.Though it is a brave captain who puts the opposition in to bat Chappell had a difficult decision as the wicket could dry out into a good batting surface later in the match, though the prevailing opinion was that it would be better not to bat last on an under-prepared wicket.A retrospective analysis of the Australian batting performance revealed that the recognised bats, other than the two Chappells and Edwards had reduced the art to technical absurdity; whereas the tail-enders has distilled it to simplicity.