The real impact of Steve and Mark Waugh's sacking from Australia's one-day side won't be felt for another year as the new-look team moves towards their World Cup defence, said coach John Buchanan. Buchanan said that Australia's 5-1 thrashing of South Africa in the limited-over series was not an immediate justification of the dumping of the Waughs.

"Time will be the test of that. At the moment we've had a snapshot and it all looks progressively quite good," said Buchanan.

"The real test of all that will become clear at the end of the World Cup (next March). Even though we've had a very good result here I'm sure there is still a lot of experience we're lacking on the field.

"Certainly the players are dealing with that very well but at the time there were a couple of decisions which the selectors felt they had to make."

New captain Ricky Ponting can still call on one of the most experienced teams in one-day cricket with Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath, Michael Bevan and vice-captain Adam Gilchrist.

But Ponting was not satisfied with his bowlers as they struggled through the last matches on tour in unhelpful conditions, and Buchanan wanted more help for frontline pacemen McGrath and Jason Gillespie.

"McGrath and Gillespie bowled well 70-80 percent of the time through the series but our back-up with Brett Lee, Ian Harvey, Andy Bichel and Shane Watson hasn't given us the follow-up that we're looking for in those post-15 overs through to 35," Buchanan said.

"And we haven't finished off well either. We have to stack up for 50 overs, game after game if we're going to find our way into a reasonable position in the (World Cup) Super Six and hopefully go beyond that."

Buchanan and Ponting have formed an effective partnership in their first series in a fluent transition from the Waugh era.

"(I was) talking to Steve Waugh some time ago, he always felt if he had to make a choice between the contenders, Ricky is the person he would have plumped for, for a range of reasons," Buchanan said.

"Some of those reasons are he reads the game very well, he's good with the players around him, he is a person who can lead from the front with the bat or in the field and he has a great deal of passion for representing his country.

"Beyond that he has a great maturity about the game and his game."

© Wisden CricInfo Ltd