|
|
Warne to lead Australia against England on home ground
AFP
January 14 1998
MELBOURNE, Australia, Jan 14 (AFP) - Shane Warne will lead Australia at
the
MCG for the first time on Friday after skipper Steve Waugh was ruled out
of his
third successive one-day international on Thursday.
Waugh's hamstring strain has still not improved enough to enable him to
play
against an unbeaten England in the tri-series match.
The star leg spinner could hardly have asked for a bigger stage on
which to
captain Australia, with a crowd of 80,000 expected at his home ground for
a
match tipped to be played in 37 degree Celsius (99 Fahrenheit) heat.
``It will be great,'' he said when asked Thursday about the milestone.
``I'm enjoying doing the captaincy, I always have, and it brings out the
best
in you.
``It's great to get the opportunity to do it but I'll be handing it back
to
Steve when he is ready.''
That should happen on Sunday as Waugh confirmed he would definitely be
fit
for the clash against England in Sydney.
Waugh said he could have played Friday night but decided to take no
chances.
``It's probably a good move because there is a lot of cricket coming up
and
if I did it again I would be out for a while so I don't mind missing one
more
game,'' he said.
Australia go into Friday's game revitalised following Wednesday's
eight-wicket win over Sri Lanka in Sydney when they successfully chased
260
thanks to a brilliant 131 off 118 balls from opener Adam Gilchrist.
Waugh was delighted with the performance, believing the side had been
unfairly criticised for their opening match seven-run loss to England, who
lead
the tri-series table after winning their first two matches.
``That's the sort of one-day cricket we've been playing for a while,''
Waugh
said.
``After the first game a few people jumped to conclusions but this is a
good
batting side,'' he said.
And that batting line-up will be strengthened Friday night with the
return
of Darren Lehmann, who missed the first two games with a hamstring
injury=2E
Lehmann will replace either Greg Blewett or Damien Martyn but his South
Australian teammate Brad Young is likely to miss the rest of the series
after
injuring his ankle colliding with the Sydney Cricket Ground fence
Wednesday
night.
The Australians have yet to name a squad replacement for Young but are
expected to call up Stuart MacGill for the clash in Sydney on Sunday.
An upbeat England trained for nearly three hours at the Melbourne
Cricket
Ground (MCG) on Thursday after having the past two days off.
England are tipped to make one change to their line-up, with batsman
Nassar
Hussein likely to come in at the expense of an all-rounder, probably Mark
Alleyne.
Probable teams:
Australia: Shane Warne (capt), Michael Bevan, Greg Blewett, Adam Dale,
Damien Fleming, Adam Gilchrist, Brendon Julian, Darren Lehmann, Glenn
McGrath,
Ricky Ponting, Mark Waugh
England: Alec Stewart (capt), Robert Croft, Mark Ealham, Neil
Fairbrother,
Darren Gough, Dean Headley, Graeme Hick, Adam Hollioake, Nasser Hussain,
Nick
Knight, Alan Mullally
Copyright 1998-2001 AFP. All rights reserved. All information displayed on
this page (dispatches, photographs, logos), with the exception of CricInfo
logos and trademarks, are protected by intellectual property rights owned
by Agence France Presse. As a consequence you may not copy, reproduce,
modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any
of the contents of this section without prior written consent of
Agence-France-Presse.
|
|
|