Aussies have the bowlers to take Indian wickets: Ponting

MELBOURNE — Skipper Ricky Ponting is certain the Australian bowling attack still pack a punch in the post-Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath era and will prove it against India in the Boxing Day Test.

Pace spearhead Brett Lee shoulders a heavy responsibility leading an inexperienced bowling attack at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, but Ponting said there is more variety in the current crop.

This will be the first major examination for Australia’s bowlers since the retirement earlier this year of leg-spinner Warne (708 wickets) and paceman McGrath (563), who are in Test cricket’s all-time top four.

Ponting and selectors want more time to analyse a MCG wicket, which has had its preparation hampered by rain over the past week.

With conditions likely to favour fast bowling on the first morning, Australia must decide between using a four-prong pace attack for the first time in almost 16 years, or going in with wrist-spinner Brad Hogg and three quicks.

Left-armer Mitchell Johnson and tearaway Shaun Tait will battle for the third pace spot if Hogg plays.

Regardless of which attack Australia get as they chase a 15th successive Test victory, Ponting said he was confident it would be more dangerous and boast more variety than the ones which struggled to bowl India out in the corresponding home series four years ago, when McGrath was injured and Warne was suspended.

Ponting said spearhead Brett Lee was in career-best form, after a man-of-the-series performance against Sri Lanka last month, Stuart Clark’s record was among the best in the world and Johnson had been impressive.

“I’m very confident in the attack that we’ve got, that it’s going to be good enough to take 20 wickets in every Test we play this summer, so I couldn’t ask for anything more,” Ponting told a match-eve press conference on Tuesday.

Ponting said even with McGrath and Warne and their combined 1271 wickets now gone, Australia had the bowlers to trouble India’s star batsmen.

“(Lee) is a wicket-taking bowler (but) for different reasons (than) Shane was,” he said. “That’s what Tait is as well.

“If Tait happens to play in this game he’s exactly like that, he’s a guy who can break a game open in a couple of overs.”

“So the wicket-taking options we lost with McGrath and Warne, we’ve just gained other guys in different roles to do that for us,” he added.

Lee (247 wickets in 61 Tests) has looked impressive this southern summer, but Tait (5 wickets in two Tests), Clark (54 wickets in 11 Tests), Johnson (8 wickets in two Tests) and Hogg (9 wickets in four Tests) have only played 19 Tests between them.

Ponting said it was important that Australia learned from prior mistakes to retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, and not bowl too short and over-attack India’s experienced batsmen.

“There’s a terrific feel around the group,” he said. “It’s Boxing Day, we’re going to have a big crowd. It’s a great place to play Test cricket and India are a great opponent.

“So put all that together and you can pretty much assure that Australia are going to be on song when we take the field tomorrow.

“Looking back at last year’s Ashes series against England, that was as well prepared as I’ve ever seen any cricket team for any series that I’ve been a part of and, right at the moment, we’ve got a really similar sort of feel around the group.”

Melbourne Cricket Club officials expect a first-day crowd of about 75,000, which would be better than the start of the 2005 Test against South Africa, although would not match last year’s 89,155 Ashes sell-out against England.

Australia still pack punch, says Ponting

Ricky Ponting remains unsure what attack he will have in the first cricket Test against India but believes Australia still pack their punch post Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath.

Australia won’t name their final XI until Wednesday morning because the captain and selectors wanted extra time to analyse an MCG wicket which has had its preparation hampered by rain the past week.

Ponting said the wicket still looked damp on Tuesday morning, but sunshine in the afternoon and forecast good weather on Wednesday will help it dry for the series opener.

Still, with conditions likely to favour fast bowling in the morning, Australia must decide between using an all-pace attack for the first time in almost 16 years, and picking spinner Brad Hogg and three quicks.

Young speedsters Mitchell Johnson and Shaun Tait will battle for the third spot if Hogg plays.

The decision is an intriguing one given Johnson’s impressive start to Test cricket the variety of his left-arm swing, while Tait’s pace and knack of ripping through opposition sides makes him dangerous.

Good weather is forecast throughout the match, but Ponting expected Wednesday’s early pace-friendly conditions to make the selectors’ decision a tough one.

“You’ve just got to try to get the conditions right with the players you’ve got available,” he said.

“If it looks like it’s going to be pretty damp in the morning then we’ve got a tough decision to make.”

It could also make for a tough call for Ponting should he win the toss, as he famously came in for heavily criticism in England in 2005, when he inserted Michael Vaughan’s side at Edgbaston.

England won that Test and later regained the Ashes.

Regardless of which attack Australia get as they seek a 15th successive victory, Ponting was confident it would be more dangerous and boast more variety than the outfits which struggled to bowl India out four years ago, when McGrath was injured and Warne was suspended.

Ponting said spearhead Brett Lee was in career-best form, after a man of the series performance against Sri Lanka last month, Stuart Clark’s record (54 wickets from 11 matches) was among the best in the world and Johnson had been impressive.

“I’m very confident in the attack that we’ve got, that it’s going to be good enough to take 20 wickets in every Test we play this summer, so I couldn’t ask for anything more,” Ponting said.

Ponting said even with McGrath and Warne and their combined 1271 wickets retired, Australia had the bowlers to land big blows on India’s star batsmen.

“(Lee) is a wicket-taking bowler and for different reasons to Shane was,” he said.

“That’s what Tait is as well.

“If Tait happens to play in this game he’s exactly like that, he’s a guy who can break a game open in a couple of overs.

“So the wicket-taking options we lost with McGrath and Warne, we’ve just gained other guys in different roles to do that for us.”

Ponting said it was important Australia learned from prior mistakes to retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, and not bowl too short and over-attack India’s bats.

Only a handful of Australians took part in Tuesday’s training session before Christmas lunch, but all Indian players trained to make up for their limited preparation.

The Melbourne Cricket Club expects a first-day crowd of 75,000.

Australia: Ricky Ponting (capt), Adam Gilchrist, Matthew Hayden, Phil Jaques, Michael Clarke, Mike Hussey, Andrew Symonds, Brad Hogg, Brett Lee, Stuart Clark, Mitchell Johnson, Shaun Tait (12th man to be named).

India (from): Anil Kumble (capt), Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly, Wasim Jaffer, Dinesh Karthik, Zaheer Khan, VVS Laxman, Irfan Pathan, Virender Sehwag, Ishant Sharma, Harbhajan Singh, Pankaj Singh, RP Singh, Yuvraj Singh, Sachin Tendulkar.

Give us a break, Tendulkar tells cricket bosses

MELBOURNE, Australia: India batsman Sachin Tendulkar called Saturday for cricket administrators to cut international fixtures and prevent players burning out.

Tendulkar, who is making his final tour to Australia with India, said the workload of international players was too demanding and administrators need to schedule longer breaks in the season.

“We can have more cricket, but it’s equally important to have a little more gap in between the tours,” Tendulkar said.

“So you kind of get some time to unwind yourself and spend some time with family, assess what happened the last test series and work on certain things and then come to Australia very well (prepared).

“But that is how the calendar has become and we can’t do much about it. We just have to get on with it.”

Tendulkar, 34, has played 142 tests and 407 one-day internationals in 16 countries during his 18-year international career, said the toll on players’ was overwhelming.

“We started our season in May and it’s been quite some time,” he said.

Tendulkar is confident India can beat Australia in their four test series starting on Boxing Day despite the hosts’ imposing home record.

Australia has not lost a home series since 1992-93, although India did draw its last test series in Australia four years ago.

“It would be the most important tour if we can pull it off,” he said.

“Beating Australia is obviously the ultimate thing because the way they have played for so many years makes it a special tour.

“Having come here four times, it would be a wonderful occasion.

“As far as I am concerned we are ready and we would like to go out there and put on a good show.”

India will go into the first test at Melbourne on Wednesday with a severely limited preparation after their three-day match against Victoria state was disrupted by rain. Only 48 overs were bowled over three days.