Australia skipper Steve Waugh is aiming to shrug off two disappointing results against English county sides when they take on high-flying Pakistan in the second NatWest Series match at Cardiff tomorrow.

Pakistan are full of confidence after winning the Second Test against England and then soundly thrashing them in the opening encounter of the series at Edgbaston on Thursday.

Meanwhile Australia, in their two one-day games this week, have lost to Middlesex and were held to a tie by Northants.

Waugh knows his side must improve on those performances if they are to win tomorrow. "Pakistan are a very good side who have some exceptional players and have got their confidence back," he said.

"They have two very good, young all-rounders in Abdur Razzaq and Azhar Mahmood. But they have some experienced players who have done well in one-day cricket.

"When Pakistan's confidence is high they can do anything. But we have a pretty good record against them recently and we believe we can do well again."

Waugh admits that Australia sometimes struggle in the early games in tournaments, most notably in the last World Cup in England when they started so slowly that they needed to win all their last seven games to lift the trophy. And, of course, it was Pakistan who they beat in the final.

"We did not plan on peaking half-way through the World Cup," he said. "We wanted to win our first game, but if we have a weakness it is not playing well in the early games.

"But we have played 12 months of cricket and we had to have some time off (before arriving in England this year).

"The down side of that is that when you have that time off you are not quite on your game.

"It is no one's fault - it is just the way modern cricket is played. There are not many lead-up games, but you have to have a break when you get the chance."

While Pakistan skipper Waqar Younis is aiming to field the same side which beat England, Waugh is uncertain of his starting line-up.

Ricky Ponting did not play at Northampton because of a minor hip problem while pace bowler Nathan Bracken was rested after sustaining a shoulder injury.

And seam bowler Damien Fleming limped off after bowling only four overs at Northampton. Waugh said: "We still have a couple of guys we are testing. There may be one or two unavailable."

Meanwhile, Pakistan decided not to hold the conventional practice session the day before a big match and rested instead. It was a policy they tried before the Second Test against England when they took the day off and went to the seaside resort of Blackpool – and, judging by the match result, it was a policy which served them well.

Teams:

Australia (from): A Gilchrist (wkt), D Martyn, M Waugh, R Ponting, S Waugh (captain), M Bevan, M Hayden, I Harvey, S Warne, J Gillespie, G McGrath, N Bracken.

Pakistan: Saeed Anwar, Shahid Afridi, Abdur Razzaq, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Yousuf Youhana, Azhar Mahmood, Younis Khan, Wasim Akram, Rashid Latif (wkt), Waqar Younis (captain), Saqlain Mushtaq.

Umpires: A Whitehead (Eng) and P Willey (Eng).

Third Umpire: R Julian (Eng).

Match referee: B Hastings (Nzl).

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