For Australia, weather a bigger worry than Pakistan

Australian captain Ricky Ponting with coach Tim Nielsen (right) during a
training session at the Premadasa Stadium in Colombo yesterday

Their hope is the Bureau's form is similar to Pakistan when they're confronted by Australia; not very good.
Ricky Ponting's men will be hoping the highly erratic Pakistan team are better than their recent record, which is two wins out of 10 matches against Australia.

There's no doubt the Pakistan team, with or without any arm-twisting, has a mental block when they sight the gold caps. As much as the Australians want a solid test, there'll be another part of their brain saying; "Let's punish these guys for the stench that surrounds what we thought was a famous Test victory at the SCG in 2010."

There's no doubt the investigation into Pakistan's highly dubious performance still rankles with the Australians, who played in that match. There's even more bad news for Pakistan; Ponting is the man, who had the most to lose when that game was investigated and he's not only playing in the game but he badly needs a score. And to exacerbate Pakistan's problems, he's currently in a mood that would make "Captain Grumpy" (former skipper Allan Border), sound like the humorous Mumbai impersonator Vikram Sathaye. This might be just the right frame of mind to galvanise Ponting and have him produce an innings that flows.

A big score from Australia would put enormous pressure on Pakistan's opening pair. And to add to Pakistan's problems there's no way the Australian fast men are going to allow Shahid Afridi to play one of his increasingly rare whirlwind knocks. This means that Younis Khan and Misbah ul-Haq will need to play well and they are better known for accumulating runs rather than clubbing them.

Australia is a superior batting side and at least as good in bowling. Then come the big differences; Australia's out-cricket (fielding and running between wickets), is miles ahead of Pakistan and they also tend not to panic when the pressure arrives. This adds up to a big gap between the two sides and hence Pakistan's poor recent record. Pakistan could well be praying for rain; for them, a point is a good result against Australia.

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