June 19  
Australia to shelve rotation policy for One-day decider

BRISBANE: Australia will shelve its rotation policy in One-day cricket by unveiling its best team for tomorrow's Super Challenge decider against Pakistan at the Gabba.

Captain Ricky Ponting said Australia would field its top team from its 13-man squad, giving explosive quick Brett Lee an idea of where he stands in must-win matches. Lee played the last time Australia fielded its top team for a tri-series clash with South Africa in Perth in February, when the home team won but failed to make the finals ahead of New Zealand. "We're going to go in there and give it our best shot of winning so we probably will pick what we think is our best team," Ponting said. "It will be difficult because Brett came into the game the other night and bowled pretty well."

Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne are certain to start, leaving Lee, Jason Gillespie and Andrew Bichel competing for the final two specialist bowling spots. Bichel's knowledge of the Gabba will count in his favour while Gillespie will be at the front of the queue after resting from last Saturday's two-wicket loss to Pakistan.

Jimmy Maher could be the batting casualty with his Queensland team-mate Matthew Hayden returning to the squad after missing Saturday's match to be with wife Kellie for the birth of their first child.

Pakistan has its own bowling worries with captain Waqar Younis admitting he has no certainty to play because of a tight hamstring. Waqar rates himself an "80-20" chance of playing alongside veteran Wasim Akram, who will tomorrow equal Mohammad Azharuddin's world record of 334 One-day International appearances.
 
Akram set Pakistan on the path to victory with two early wickets in Melbourne last Saturday, forcing Australia to address its batting against the tourists.

Waqar, Akram and Shoaib Akhtar will enjoy the extra bounce in the Brisbane wicket and Ponting admitted the Australian batsmen needed to be on guard. "Their batters may be a little susceptible to that but their bowlers love it so that makes our jobs equally as hard," Ponting said. "The strength of their side is their bowling and they can be very, very dangerous.

"It's one thing we're addressing at our meeting because we have to make sure we get through those guys better." Ponting rated Akram the second-best bowler he had faced in international cricket, behind only former West Indian quick Curtly Ambrose.

Ponting was reminded of Akram's guile when he fell to the 36-year-old on the third ball last Saturday after Akram had claimed Adam Gilchrist with the opening delivery. The captains face a testing decision at the toss, with showers forecast tomorrow for Brisbane.

Ponting admitted the shadow which creeps across the wicket block before 3pm in winter could be more of a hindrance to the batsmen than the evening dew. "It may be that it's easier to bat under lights when there is more consistent light across the ground but we'll wait and see," Ponting said. "Hopefully I can get the toss right."