I've heard it all now. This week, after their superb victory over India, Australia's Glenn McGrath complained about Harbajan Singh and how he was saying too much on the field. Carrying on all day apparently. Never shutting up.

I'm sorry, from anyone else that complaint might have held some water, but from McGrath it is pure nonsense.

He is international cricket's most garrulous bowler, bar none. He is the one who carries on all day, never shutting up, always chirping, sometimes berating himself for a bad ball but more often than not having a word in the batsman's ear as to how he would like to hurt him or how poor his technique is.

He is a brilliant bowler and proved many critics wrong in Bangalore with a world-class performance which suggests the end for him is still some way off. But too often his behaviour goes beyond what is acceptable. When he played for Worcestershire in 2000 he got away with murder in my book.

The way he generally treated umpires was despicable, forever questioning their decisions and putting undue pressure on them. Mind you, that was a tactic used by Shane Warne this past summer for Hampshire and I saw that first hand when he played against Glamorgan.

If he did not get a decision to go his way he would make damn sure that he made the umpire know what he thought in the hope that he might get the next one in his favour.

Anyway, all this McGrath talk started because the Australians were given a roasting in the Indian press for what was considered excessive appealing and in particular the fact that they appealed for LBW when opener Virender Sehwag clearly hit the ball.

That was all a bit silly because that has been going on for ages, and often it is not possible to tell whether a batsman has indeed hit the ball. You are never going to stop sides appealing for those.

There are a lot of psychological games taking place on both sides at the moment. But we must give credit to Australia for their consummate effort, and especially to the Test debutant Michael Clarke whose hundred really captured the imagination.

What intrigued me most about his century was the fact that on 98 he called to the pavilion for his baggy green cap to replace his Australian helmet.

Apparently he had always said that if he reached this point he wanted to do it in his cap - but what was even more remarkable was that the bowler, Zaheer Khan, actually fed him a leg stump half volley for him to reach three figures.

Most self-respecting quickies would have greeted such a show of arrogance - for that is what it was - with a volley of bouncers. And if it had been the aforementioned Mr McGrath, just imagine the volley of invective which would have followed!

Clarke had also flown all his family out to India to be there, so it was almost as if this was destined to happen. He has long since been considered the next bright young thing in Australia, as shown by the lucrative sponsorship handed to him by the bat manufacturer Slazenger - £500,000 over four years - before he had even played a Test.

Followers of Hampshire might have been a little perplexed as to what all the fuss was about given his relatively modest success there last season, but it does have to be said that any young batsman coming to this country would probably not choose the Rose Bowl at Southampton as their most productive venue, given the sporty nature of the pitches there.

Whatever, a new star seems to have been born and his success will mean that one of the more established Australian batsmen could lose his place when skipper Ricky Ponting, who incidentally publishes a book soon - written by a chap from these parts, Brian Murgatroyd - decides.

Talking of Gwent's Australian connections, a local cricketing story of merit already covered by the South Wales Argus, has come to my attention.

Sudbrook's Mark O'Leary has been handed an EWCB coaching scholarship to go to Australia and work with the guru of leg spin, Terry Jenner, with a view to coming back and imparting his knowledge to the budding leg spinners of this country.

Of course O'Leary is a leg spinner himself, and one with a real passion for the game of cricket, whether playing or coaching, and this can only be seen as the most wonderful opportunity.

He will spend two weeks in Adelaide, staying with Jenner along with two young leg spinners, Patrick Turk of Surrey and Theo Brookes of Northamptonshire. In addition Yorkshire's Mark Lawson, who played some first team cricket last summer, will be there for a three month period with Jenner.

There was a time when it was thought O'Leary might make a career of professional cricket but now it would seem he is making a decent fist of the coaching side of things, and that is good