Aussies least prepared, but favourites

Daniel Laidlaw

The setting and opposition may be the same, but Australia's return to England for the first time since its memorable World Cup triumph two years ago begins with a one-day competition considerably less momentous than the one famously won in 1999.

Australia commences the serious element of its 2001 Ashes tour by participating in the triangular NatWest tournament with England and Pakistan, the latter its opponent in its last match on English soil, the World Cup final.

It may be seen as little more than an appetiser prior to the main course, the five-Test Ashes series from July 5, but the triangular competition presents a chance to gain the psychological high ground prior to the Ashes and provides another opportunity for all teams to build towards the World Cup two years hence.

As reigning World Cup champion and arguably the No. 1 one-day side in the world, Australia confronts an England team experiencing poor form at one-day level and with a similar desire to prepare for the next World Cup. Also involved is the perpetually strong Pakistan, aiming to carry over its momentum from a series-levelling Test victory against England in the first battle of the English summer.

Australia is the clear favourite but is the least prepared of the three teams, having enjoyed a 5-week break after its unsuccessful tour of India. After losing a celebrated Test series 2-1, Australia made a commendable turnaround to win the one-day series 3-2. Star of that series for the tourists was Matthew Hayden, who followed his record-breaking Test series with belated inclusion in the one-day squad and proceeded to score 303 runs from four matches.

Now Australia is in England with a full-strength squad at its disposal, including the fearsome pace trio of Glenn McGrath, Jason Gillespie and Brett Lee. Lee, recovering from surgery after injuring his elbow while fielding in a one-day game in February, will not play in the one-day tournament but was made part of the squad to enhance his preparation for the Test series.

Australia last played Pakistan in the finals of the 1999/'00 Carlton and United series when it won 2-0, while its last contest with England was in the same competition a year earlier when it also won 2-0. England and Pakistan last met at one-day level in Pakistan last year, when Pakistan won a three-match series 2-1.

England, a considerably better one-day outfit in home conditions, last met Australia at home on the 1997 Ashes tour when it won the Texaco Trophy series 3-0, raising English hopes of regaining the Ashes, before being duly defeated 3-2 in the Test series.

Australia has suffered just two defeats in one-day events since the World Cup, a loss to Sri Lanka in the final of a triangular series in September '99 after sweeping the preliminaries and a 2-1 defeat to South Africa in April 2000 in the immediate aftermath of the match-fixing revelations.

Australia has made one change to the one-day squad that toured India, omitting Darren Lehmann and belatedly including the uncapped 29-year-old wicketkeeper Wade Seccombe as backup for Adam Gilchrist.

With Matthew Hayden's outstanding form at the top of the order in both Test and one-day cricket, it is likely he will continue to open the batting with Mark Waugh while dynamic 'keeper/batsman Gilchrist is lowered down the order. Gilchrist struggled to come to terms with the seaming conditions as an opener at the last World Cup and Hayden will likely want to become familiar with the pitches in his regular opening position, making it probable Australia will adopt a more conventional opening pair.

In the opening three-day match against Worcestershire completed on Sunday, Hayden made 20 and 65 opening the batting with Waugh.

England captain Nasser Hussain will miss the one-day series with a broken thumb sustained in the first Test against Pakistan and will be replaced as captain by Alec Stewart.

Each team plays six preliminary matches, beginning with Thursday's day/night fixture between England and Pakistan at Edgbaston, with the final to be staged at Lord's on June 23.

Squads:
Australia: Steve Waugh (c), Adam Gilchrist (v-c), Michael Bevan, Nathan Bracken, Damien Fleming, Jason Gillespie, Ian Harvey, Matthew Hayden, Damien Martyn, Glenn McGrath, Ricky Ponting, Wade Seccombe, Andrew Symonds, Shane Warne, Mark Waugh.

England: Alec Stewart (c), Alistair Brown, Andrew Caddick, Paul Collingwood, Dominic Cork, Robert Croft, Mark Ealham, Darren Gough, Ben Hollioake, Nick Knight, Alan Mullally, Graham Thorpe, Marcus Trescothick, Michael Vaughan.

Pakistan: Waqar Younis (c), Shahid Afridi, Saeed Anwar, Faisal Iqbal, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Yousuf Youhana, Younis Khan, Rashid Latif, Wasim Akram, Shoaib Akhtar, Abdur Razzaq, Mohammad Sami, Shoaib Malik, Saqlain Mushtaq, Azhar Mahmood, Imran Nazir, Saleem Elahi.

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