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Chris Duval, the fast bowler, will go back to his home in South Australia and join the Redbacks for next season.”It should come as no surprise that we have looked to find someone who will provide more support and experience to our bowling group next season,” Mark Sorell, the South Australia coach, said. “Chris’ on-field ability and his off-field contributions make him a perfect fit for the Redbacks’ immediate and long-term needs.”Duval has played seven first-class matches, taking 13 wickets at 47.92, and has made as many one-day appearances, with four wickets at 88.25. He is a native of South Australia but was chosen by Tasmania in 2004.”Playing with the Tigers has been a great experience and I am indebted to the TCA [Tasmanian Cricket Association] for the support they have given me,” Duval said. “But the option to come home and also continue my cricket career was just too tempting and the timing couldn’t be more perfect.”

It’s a dead rubber in name only. Australia wrapped up the series against South Africa in Durban last week but while Thursday’s third Test in Cape Town will not affect the series result, there are a host of players desperate to complete strong auditions ahead of the Ashes tour.The Newlands match is Australia’s last Test before the trip to England and men like Ben Hilfenhaus, Marcus North and Andrew McDonald will be keen to cap off their already positive performances with another impressive effort. Australia’s coach Tim Nielsen will spend the next few days pounding into his players the message that they must push for a 3-0 clean sweep.”It’s really important for us because this team is a young, new team so they’re setting their own standards a little bit and they’re putting their own footprint on the world of cricket,” Nielsen said. “It’s not like it’s the same guys who have been around for the past ten years and have done it all, all over the world.”These guys are doing it for the first time anywhere, so they’ve got an opportunity to set their own standards, to ensure that two Tests are only two-thirds of a three-Test series. Maybe that’s one of the nice things about having a young group. Every day they wake up they can’t wait to play for Australia.”While some of the new faces like Phillip Hughes have already cemented their spots for the foreseeable future, others like Hilfenhaus know that their fate rests partially in how the selectors treat veterans like Stuart Clark and Brett Lee, who missed the South Africa tour due to injury but will be ready for the Ashes. Lee has expressed his strong desire to return to the new-ball role as soon as possible and Nielsen said it was impossible to ignore Lee’s strong credentials.”Binga [Lee] is a 300 Test wicket bowler. We’ve only got four of them in Australian history. You don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater,” Nielsen said. “He had a pretty bad foot and ankle injury and has taken a fair while to get over it. To have Binga back in the mix bowling 150kph outswingers, any team is going to take that”As long as they [Lee and Clark] are fit and can bowl at their optimum they have deserved their opportunity. There will be times in the future when this bowling group will be sore or tired and needs to miss a game through injury. When they go out through injury, and are playing well at the time they are injured, they are going to come back in.”Australia’s immediate selection question is whether to include a spinner in the Cape Town Test after having such success with a four-man seam attack in Johannesburg and Durban. The chairman of selectors Andrew Hilditch said that Newlands was a venue where a slow bowler was mostlikely to be of use but the decision would ultimately come down to conditions on the ground.Nathan Hauritz and the uncapped Bryce McGain have waited patiently throughout the tour, hoping for their opportunity, and if it does come in Cape Town it would mostly be at the expense of McDonald. Although it would be useful for Australia to give the legspinner McGain a taste of Test cricket before the Ashes, Nielsen said the selection would be purely based on the best side to win at Newlands.”If we play Bryce it will be because he fits into our squad the best,” Nielsen said. “If we start taking a ‘let’s see how he goes’ attitude it really does become a dead rubber for us. We will do the very best we can to pick the side that we think is best for these conditions,the spinners will definitely come into play for that.”Australia’s players had a four-day break in Cape Town following the second Test because their wives and girlfriends joined the group. Safari trips and holiday activities have now given way to training and the players were to hit the nets for their first full practice session on Monday. The squad has been trimmed with the cover fast bowler Steve Magoffin having returned home to Western Australia as the team’s injury worries subsided.

Michael Clarke’s availability for the Chappell-Hadlee series decider is in doubt, with the vice-captain suffering from upper-back pain. Clarke played through significant discomfort in Tuesday’s one-day match against New Zealand, during which he claimed the vital wicket of Brendon McCullum and contributed 14 top-order runs, but pulled up sore the following morning.The injury is not expected to effect Clarke’s availability for the tour of South Africa, but could prevent him from taking the field for Friday night’s match against the New Zealanders at the Gabba. Clarke has a long history of lower-back problems, although the team physiotherapist Alex Kountouris said the current complaint was unrelated.”It will all depend how he pulls up before the game,” Kountouris said. “He was quite sore going into the game in Adelaide but was determined to get through it, and there is a fair bit of pain today. We’ll see how it goes, but with it being such an important match, I’m sure he’ll want to play it if possible.”A top order without Clarke would help New Zealand’s cause as they embark on the decider aiming for their first one-day series win in Australia. The captain Daniel Vettori said his men remained confident despite allowing Australia to level the series having been down 0-2.”I don’t think anyone would have guessed 2-2 before we started, so this is an exciting time for a very young team,” Vettori told . “To come to Australia and have a chance of winning the series is something you should always dream about and now we’ve got that opportunity. It’s up to mainly the senior guys to step up and lift their performance.”Hopefully that’ll lift the confidence of the group as opposed to the last two performances. We can look back on Perth and Melbourne and see the things we did really well and hopefully put them in place for Brisbane. If we don’t then we know we’ll get rolled over.”

India’s schedule for next month’s New Zealand series, announced today, has raised questions over the lack of any practice match through the 48-day tour. An extra Test was included in the revised schedule – comprising three Tests, five ODIs and two Twenty20 matches – in place of the practice game that was originally scheduled, leaving no opportunity for India to acclimatise to unfamiliar conditions.Former India captains Dilip Vengsarkar, the previous chief selector, and Bishan Bedi, who was manager of the team that lost the 1990 series in New Zealand, criticised an itinerary that will not allow the team to acclimatise to the conditions – cold, windy and conducive to swing bowling, and vastly different from those in the subcontinent, where the team played for most of last year – in a match situation.”It is very important to play not one but at least two practice games to acclimatise to the conditions and the pitches because it takes time to settle,” Vengsarkar said. “Practice is different compared to spending time in the middle. In New Zealand, the weather conditions and pitches are different to what we experience here. The ball moves around a lot, the pitch is spongy and you take time to adjust to that. The Test players could have done with at least a two-day practice game.”Bedi said the current schedule presented a no-win situation for India. “A practice game is meant for the visiting team to get familiar with the local conditions before the real contest,” he said. “So, it (scrapping the practice game) is not a very healthy development. New Zealand is very much like England, and it is very cold. Going from the comparatively dry weather in India to New Zealand is always difficult. It is a no-win situation for India. If they do well, it will be deemed as expected, and if they don’t, it will be said that they are not professionals.”Sanjay Bangar, a member of the Indian team that lost both Tests on their last tour of New Zealand, in 2002-03, said the players, particularly the Test specialists, needed more time to adapt to the extreme conditions there. “The last time, the conditions were pretty extreme and I guess they will be similar this time too,” he said. “The Test-only players will need more time to adapt.”

Lalchand Rajput, who was coach of the Indian team in Australia last season, said a similar lack of match practice during the 2007-08 series, after rain marred the team’s only three-day warm-up game, contributed to the 337-run defeat in the first Test in Melbourne.”Not even one full day’s play was possible (India batted for 48 overs against Victoria) and that had a role in our subsequent defeat in the first Test,” Rajput said. “The practice game allows you to get used to the prevailing conditions as quickly as possible and to do that, you require at least one or two games.”Ratnakar Shetty, the BCCI’s chief administrative officer though, said due diligence had been carried out before the schedule was finalised. Asked whether the players were consulted on the schedule, he said: “We looked at all issues before finalising the itinerary.”New Zealand Cricket (NZC) said it was committed to providing the best practice facilities for the Indian team, especially the Test players, under the supervision of John Wright, the former India coach. Justin Vaughan, the NZC chief executive, said the extra Twenty20 game was added after a request from the New Zealand side.”I spoke to the BCCI and made a very strong committment that we will provide, particularly for the Test-only players, the very best practice opportunites in New Zealand,” Vaughan said. “John Wright, the former Indian coach, who now works with NZC, will take the responsibility to make sure that the players get adequate practice arrangements.”India played one practice match in Sri Lanka last year, one in Australia before the Melbourne defeat, and two in England a few months before that. In fact, the only away bilateral series in the recent past in which India did not play a warm-up game, was in Bangladesh in 2007.The original New Zealand tour schedule did have a practice match but that was later scrapped to accommodate an extra Test on a request from the BCCI after it was forced to cancel its January tour to Pakistan following a government directive.India have not won a Test in New Zealand in over three decades, and apart from the loss in the Test series last time, they were beaten 2-5 in the ODIs.

Group A

There was more drama off the field at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore, with Habib Bank Limited captain Younis Khan summoned by PCB chief Ijaz Butt for an 15-minute emergency meeting. Later in the day, Younis was named as Pakistan’s new leader, but he will have to get his focus back on the game tomorrow. HBL finished at 191 for 7, with Younis unbeaten on 50, and need 62 runs to go past Lahore Shalimar‘s 252. Resuming on 219 for 6, Lahore were bowled out in 18 overs. Zulqarnain Haider added only six to his overnight 61 while the wickets fell at the other end. HBL made a positive start with Ahmed Shehzad hitting a 40-ball 35 and his partner Imran Nazir, not the former international now with the ICL, went on to score his maiden half-century. However, Mohammad Naved took a five-wicket haul – his eighth in tenth first-class game – to reduce the visitors to 138 for 7. Younis the steadied the innings with Sajid Shah, who was on 28 not out at close.Junaid Nadir quickly ended Karachi Whites‘ innings on the second day – they added four to their overnight 228 for 8 – but Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited struggled in their reply at the National Stadium, and their hopes of first-innings points now hinge on their ninth-wicket pair. Nadir took both wickets to complete his second five-for – this being his eighth game – and then chipped in with 41 from No. 5 in an otherwise mediocre effort from the specialist batsmen. Afaq Raheem was the only other player in the top six to reach double figures, but ZTBL were given hope by Shakeel Ansar and Mohammad Khalil. The duo finished with unbeaten scores of 43 and 33, and their 60-run stand took them to 187 for 8 at stumps. If they fall short, the visitors might regret the 30 extras they conceded. Tariq Haroon was the pick of the Karachi bowlers, with 5 for 62 off 24 overs.It was a similar tale in Gujranwala, with Pakistan Customs and defending champions Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited battling to gain the first-innings lead. SNGPL managed 196 from their overnight 134 for 6, with Azhar Shafiq scoring an unbeaten 98. Aamer Yousuf starred with 5 for 68, his maiden five-wicket haul. Imran Ali then struck thrice in the Pakistan Customs innings to leave them at 120 for 6, which came at a brisk five runs per over. SNGPL bowled 19 no-balls in the innings.Allrounder Yasir Arafat will have to wait for his shot at bagging ten wickets in an innings, with not a single bowled on the second day in Rawalpindi. Arafat’s 7 for 19 had left Sui Southern Gas Corporation at 57 for 7 in reply to Khan Research Laboratories‘ 191.It was another frustrating day in Sialkot, as no play was possible yet again in the match between Pakistan International Airlines and Water and Power Development Authority.

Group B

At the Iqbal Stadium, hosts Faisalabad were bowled out for 151 – they began the day at 51 for 4 – but managed to keep their chances of the first-innings lead alive, taking four wickets for 61 in Islamabad’s innings. Saad Altaf took five for the visitors, and Rauf Akbar chipped in with three before Ahmed Hayat struck twice in Islamabad’s 61 off 26.3 overs.Hyderabad, resuming on 232 for 2, batted 67 overs on the second day before declaring their first innings on 471 for 9 at the Niaz Stadium against Abbottabad. Azeem Ghumon and Faisal Athar, the not-out batsmen from day one, both fell in the 140s. Hanif Malik was the next-best with 71, while the last two in the line-up, Kashif Bhatti and Naeem-ur-Rehman, scored 31 and 21 in an unbroken 40-run stand for the tenth wicket. Abbottabad’s opening bowlers took eight wickets between them for 136: Armaghan Elahi had 5 for 69 and Rashid Mansoor 3 for 67. The visitors lost one wicket in their 14 overs till stumps, scoring 48.A century from Ayaz Tasawwar and some disciplined bowling helped leaders Sialkot gain the advantage against Multan in Okara. Tasawwar’s 100 not out took Sialkot from 230 for 7 to a formidable 339. He scored 62 of those runs, with No. 10 Naved Arif making a quick 39-ball 30. Sialkot then chipped away at the Multan line-up. Aqeel Abbas, Nadeem Javed and Nayyer Abbas grabbed two wickets apiece as the hosts were left fumbling at 164 for 7 in reply, with Rameez Alam unbeaten on 66 off 170 balls.Second-placed Rawalpindi also gained the upper hand in their match against Lahore Ravi at the Lahore City Cricket Association Ground. Mohammad Rameez, the 18-year-old medium-pacer, took 2 for 16 in 14 overs as Lahore closed the day at 83 for 3, off 50 overs. Earlier in the day, Rawalpindi extended their score from 250 for 6 to 304. Nineteen-year-old Fawad Hussan, overnight on 85, got his third century in his ninth innings at the first-class level. For Lahore, Waqas Ahmed and Junaid Zia took three wickets each, while Sohail Ahmed and Kashif Siddiq scalped two.No play was possible in the tie between Peshawar and Quetta, which began today.

Group A

Wickets continued to fall at the Union Bank Limited sports complex, where Aizaz Cheema’s six-wicket haul proved decisive in garnering Pakistan International Airlines a handy lead. Having been dismissed for just 200 on day one, PIA allowed Habib Bank Limited’s openers to go into stumps on 24 for 0. Then Cheema took over after Najaf Shah opened the doors with two early wickets. He ran through the lower order to finish with 6 for 52 and if not for Shahid Afridi’s 80-ball 73 HBL would have had to settle for far less than 171. Sarfraz Ahmed, the wicketkeeper, collected seven catches behind the stumps. The HBL spinners Afridi and Danish Kaneria struck back to reduce PIA to 77 for 3, but by then a potentially crucial lead of 106 had been established.Medium-pace again dominated in Rawalpindi. First Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited’s Asad Ali snared 5 for 51 to help bowl Khan Research Laboratories out for 133, thus securing a 12-run lead, but a spectacular collapse triggered by Yasir Arafat followed. Arafat, who took four wickets in the first innings, ran through SNGPL with 6 for 36. He removed the openers for 0 apiece and, backed by Shoaib Akhtar’s two wickets, reduced SNGPL to 94 for 8 at stumps. How crucial their lead of 106, in a match where ball has outdone bat, will turn out to be remains to be seen. Asad Ali’s wickets had accounted for KRL’s middle and lower middle order, but Arafat’s ten for the match left the game wide open.Mohammed Naved’s eight wickets pulled Lahore Shalimar back into the game and Abid Ali’s maiden first-class hundred helped them inch towards stability at the Gaddafi Stadium. From an overnight 270 for 5, Water and Power Development Authority were kept to 330, with Naved taking career-best figures of 8 for 128. Nawaz Sardar could only add 20 to his overnight century and there was little resistance from the lower order. Lahore’s innings began poorly – they were soon 19 for 2 – but Abid Ali added 92 with Suleman Khan (25) and an unbeaten 77 with Raza Ali Dar (31 not out) and took the total to 188 for 3 at stumps. His unbeaten 101 consumed 141 balls and included 16 boundaries.Wajid Ali’s slow century and useful contributions low down the order from Shehzad Butt (40) and Haaris Ayaz (57) got the total to 390, and three National Bank of Pakistan wickets capped a good second day for Sui Southern Gas Corporation in Karachi. SNGPL had made slow progress on day one, scoring 251 for 5, and Wajid came out in the same vein. His 101 took 241 deliveries but also smoothed over a double loss at 281, and Butt and Ayaz dug in to get the score close to 400. Fawad Alam, the Pakistan allrounder, struck thrice to finish the innings. But NBP proceeded to lose three of their own in a flurry, and slumped to 17 for 3. The openers failed to score, and when Naumanullah departed for 9, NBP were in trouble. Cue an attacking, unbeaten 106-run alliance between Umar Amin (60 from 60 balls) and Alam (50 from 50) but, trailing by 267, NBP are still far from safety.Half-centuries to their top order enabled Karachi Whites take an 87-run lead over Pakistan Customs on day two at the Quaid-e-Azam park, where Karachi resumed on 43 for no loss and the openers Asad Shafiq (73) and Ali Asad (70) extended the stand to 139. A wobble followed, with Fawad Khan taking 4 for 10 with his part-time medium-pace. Khalid Latif, the Karachi captain, stuck around to finish the day unbeaten on 66 and found support from Javed Mansoor to add 70 for the sixth wicket.

Group B

More joy for the medium-pacers at the Marghzar Cricket Ground, where 16 wickets fell on day two. From an overnight 148 for 9, Multan were taken to 187 thanks to Mohammad Irshad’s 33. Then Rawalpindi were bowled out for 121, Abdur Rauf taking 5 for 39 and every other bowler also succeeding in striking. But then Multan’s batsmen combined to flop again, slumping to 50 for 6 by stumps. The wrecker-in-chief was the first-innings hero Rizwan Akbar, who took his tally to ten for the match so far with 5 for 22. No batsman applied himself – top-scorer Sohaib Maqsood’s 20 needed 19 deliveries – and Multan would be unduly putting plenty of pressure on their bowling attack if they fail to build on a 116-run lead.Matters improved somewhat for Group B’s table-toppers, Abbottabad, who restricted Islamabad to 234 and then whittled the deficit down to 49 by the close of play at the Diamond Club Ground. Having crumbled to 163 on the first day, Abbottabad turned in a tidy bowling effort. There were not massive hauls or destructive spells, but the wickets were shared and no home side batsman was allowed to cross 50 bar the opener and captain Raheel Majeed (57). Ghulam Mohammad and Usman Khan, Abbottabad’s openers, scored 31 without loss in the 17 overs remaining in the day.Sialkot made good progress against Hyderabad at the Jinnah Stadium. The day didn’t start their way, as the opener Aqeel Anjum moved from 86 to 104 and Nasir Awais (44 not out) helped Hyderabad from 197 for 7 to 252, but an efficient response helped it get better. Kamran Younus (89) and Naeemuddin (69 not out) put on 139 for the first wicket and then Bilal Hussain contributed 43 in a 90-run association for the second. Sialkot finished on 238 for 2, within striking distance of taking a first-innings lead.At the National Stadium, Shaizab Hasan’s 156 helped Karachi Blues take a 151-run lead over Lahore Ravi. Azam Khan struck twice early in the morning to unsettle a promising start, but Hasan, the Karachi captain, notched up his maiden first-class century. It was largely a one-man effort – Hasan faced 172 balls and hit 23 fours and three sixes and no other batsman crossed 48, thanks largely to Azam’s 5 for 82. However, constructive efforts from the lower order took Karachi to 373 for 8.Faisalabad dominated the second straight day against Quetta at the Iqbal Stadium, where the captain Ijaz Ahmed jnr’s unbeaten 229 prompted a declaration at 447 for 8. Ijaz, who had represented Pakistan four times in the middle-to-late 1990s, batted 318 balls for his stellar innings, and Mohammad Salman made 90. Confident with the total, Ijaz declared the innings and looked on as his medium-pacers struck early to leave Quetta 80 for 3.

Ajantha Mendis, the Sri Lankan spinner, will miss the two-Test series in Bangladesh, which begins on December 26, after injuring his ankle while bowling for Army SC in his first match of the domestic season against Tamil Union last weekend.Ranjith Nanayakkarawasam, the Sri Lanka team physio, said Mendis had strained his right ankle and was undergoing treatment. “The injury will take at least three to four weeks to heal,” he said. Mendis is expected to be back for the ODI tri-series against Bangladesh and Zimbabwe, scheduled to start on January 10.Rangana Herath, the left-arm spinner, will take Mendis’ place in Sri Lanka’s 15-man Test squad. Herath’s last Test was in March this year, against West Indies in Guyana.Mendis has had a successful run in 2008, announcing his arrival with 26 wickets at 18.38 apiece in his debut Test series against India earlier this year. He had a superb run in ODIs as well – he took 48 wickets in 18 matches – and is set to become the fastest to 50 ODI scalps: Ajit Agarkar achieved the milestone in 23 games.

Mohammad Yousuf, the Pakistan batsman, has said his move to the ICL was prompted by the attitude of PCB officials and Pakistan captain Shoaib Malik, and that his decision was not swayed by the money on offer.”Everyone is saying that I have signed [up for] the ICL because of money but the real reason was the attitude of the PCB and Malik, which forced me to join the league,” Yousuf told BBC Urdu radio in an interview. “[The] captain never gave me the respect I deserved.”The PCB must respect the senior players and if they don’t, more and more senior players will leave for the ICL,” he said. “That has been the case since last year.”Yousuf will play for the Lahore Badshahs in the ICL, alongside Pakistan players such as Inzamam-ul-Haq, Abdul Razzaq, Azhar Mahmood, Saqlain Mushtaq, Mohammad Sami and Rana Naved-ul-Hasan – all of whom, like Yousuf, have been banned by the board for their involvement with the league.He hit out at comments made by a few former players. Former captain Aamer Sohail said he spoiled his image by “ditching” a country that had given him fame and wealth. “Where were these former Test cricketers when the PCB claimed that there was delay in my visa for the Toronto event?” Yousuf told the Associated Press. “They did not raise any voice and now they are criticising me. I am getting more [money] while representing Pakistan and it’s totally wrong to say I joined ICL because of big sums of money.”There was very little cricket in Pakistan this year and I wanted to keep myself tuned up for the big series against India at home by playing in the ICL.”Yousuf left for India soon after he was named in Pakistan’s team for the three ODIs against West Indies in Abu Dhabi, a move that surprised PCB officials. He had signed for the ICL last year after being left out of the squad for the World Twenty20 in South Africa, but was lured back by the board to play for Pakistan. His participation in the recent T20 Canada was halted by visa issues.Yousuf said he was disappointed on missing out on the Canada tournament: he was named in the squad but visa problems prevented him from playing. “I was told that my visa for Canada was delayed. In fact afterwards I got to know that my visa was applied (for) in a wrong manner and I was left out of the team and no one from the PCB bothered to talk to me,” he said. “I am the seniormost player and team’s best performer for the last several years but I was left out of the team. They don’t want me in the team so why not join a league where I am welcomed?”I know I still have three to four years of cricket left in me, so I can still play for Pakistan provided I am accepted by the PCB and my team-mates, especially the captain. I have never said that I will prefer ICL over playing for my country. I am even available for the Abu Dhabi series, but it’s disappointing that the PCB has suspended me.”

Shane Watson, the Australian allrounder, has been fined 10% of his match fee after being found guilty of breaching the ICC Code of Conduct during an incident involving Indian opener Gautam Gambhir on the first day of the second Test in Delhi. Gambhir’s hearing has been adjourned until Friday morning so that match referee Chris Broad can review the evidence.Gambhir had a series of verbal clashes with Watson during the post-lunch session and then ran into him when trying for a second run in the 51st over of the Indian innings. Gambhir later said elbowing Watson in the chest ” wasn’t deliberate ” but he was charged with a Level 2 offence for not conducting play “within the spirit of the game as well as within the laws of cricket”. Watson was slapped with a Level 1 charge under the same offence.Watson pleaded not guilty to the offence during his hearing but Broad found him “guilty of verbally engaging with Gambhir in a manner that was not in keeping with the spirit of cricket”. There is no right of appeal for Level 1 offences and the match referee’s decision is final.Gambhir, however, pleaded guilty to the charge and he could face a ban of one Test. Level 2 penalties range from a fine of between 50 and 100% of match fees and/or a ban of one Test or two ODIs but the player has the right to appeal against the decision within 24 hours.The umpires Billy Bowden and Aleem Dar laid the charges against Gambhir and Watson along with the TV official Suresh Shastri. However, they did not lay charges against Gambhir and Simon Katich after the two were involved in a heated argument after tea on the first day. Katich appeared to have halted Gambhir from taking a run – and the pair was separated by Bowden.Gambhir was fined 65% of his match fee for an incident in 2007 when he barged in to Pakistan bowler Shahid Afridi while batting in a one-day match in Kanpur. He was found guilty of a Level 2 charge of inappropriate and deliberate physical contact between players and was also ruled to have breached a Level 1 condition of not conducting play with the spirit of the game.

They may be as green as the ends of the Bangalore pitch, but Australiawill rely on their untried and untested as they attempt to upstage India.The visiting side is almost unrecognisable from the one that won in 2004 -and it doesn’t bother the players.Ricky Ponting leads the brave outlook and wants to use his fresh talent towear down India’s veterans, so they are the ones wilting instead ofAustralia’s new faces. To counter the problem that only Ponting, MatthewHayden, Michael Clarke and Simon Katich have played a Test in India, thecaptain is demanding new-age fielding for his new-look side. He wantsyouthful enthusiasm – five players in the 12 are in their 20s, which isyoung by Australia’s recent standards – to override experience.Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman arecoming towards the end of their careers and Ponting hopes to exploit anycreak in their bodies and fatigue in their minds. “I really think we cantake them on in the field, almost a new-age type of Test cricket that canmake a few of their guys look a bit old and a bit slow,” he said. Pontingspoke to the team on Tuesday and pushed the point along with the need forsharp running between wickets.”We can create pressure on them with our intensity in the field atdifferent times, and make them look past their use-by date,” he said.”That’s what we’re trying to achieve, to put their older guys underimmense pressure. We know if we do that, and make little things standout, their whole media over here will just jump on them, especially ifthey lose an early game.”The total fielding concept has been developed under the assistant coachMike Young, a former baseball mentor, and Australia will have to be onfire to make up for their other deficiencies. Spin bowling is the mainproblem – Cameron White and Jason Krejza are fighting for the final spotin the XI – and a new combination is being tried in the middle orderfollowing Andrew Symonds’ suspension.Shane Watson will bat at No. 6 in his fourth Test – his first for threeyears – and will enter ahead of Brad Haddin and White, if he is preferredfor his superior run-making skills. Michael Clarke has had a stomach bugthis week but trained on Wednesday and will take his place, which is a bigboost for the side as it needs his multi-purpose skills.Another concern for Australia is that none of their fast men have appearedin a Test in India. Brett Lee will lead the attack, with Stuart Clark andMitchell Johnson as support, and Ponting has faith in the combination.”Our spinners are young and inexperienced at Test level, but if you lookat our fast bowlers, those guys are very skilled and talented,” Pontingsaid. “There’s no reason why our fast bowlers alone can’t win us this Testseries.”In 2004 Australia relied heavily on Glenn McGrath, Shane Warne and Jason Gillespie with the ball and Damien Martyn with the bat. Ponting expects the next rung of representatives to step up in this series.”There are a number of challenges for me as captain,” he said. “I need tolook at different ways and call on different guys at different times toget similar jobs done to the ones McGrath and Warne and those guys weredoing for us.”Anyone who plays for Australia is capable of getting any job done. Iexpect that when I ask Mitchell Johnson or Stuart Clark or Brad Haddin todo a certain job for me or the team, they’re good enough to get it done.”He will also require a lot more output from himself. India is the onlyplace Ponting has not conquered and it is something he is determined tofix. In eight Tests here he has managed 172 runs, including only 17 in the 2001 series when his nightmare with Harbhajan Singh began.”For me it’s just a matter of trusting myself,” he said. “The series herein 2001, the really bad series, was because I didn’t trust my technique andwas trying to find a way in every innings to combat mainly Harbhajan.”I’ve learned a lot and come a long way as a player since then. Only thisplace in the world has got me.” If it happens again Australia’s hopes ofretaining the Border-Gavaskar Trophy might be impossible.