Australia, who have been widely criticised for their on-fieldsledging in recent matches, will aim to be on their best behaviour when they kick off a three-match one-day series against Pakistan on Wednesday.

Australian one-day captain Ricky Ponting said that his side had been working on improving their conduct in the light of recent criticism by South African players.

South African batsman Graeme Smith made several allegations about what Australian players had said to him on the field earlier this year.

"There's always going to be sledging in cricket or gamesmanship, whatever you like to call it," he said. "But I won't accept guys in the Australian side getting too personal with things they say.

"We're not there yet, we're not where we'd like to be, but we're certainly going to work on that and certainly going to improve that as much as we can.

"We can still improve on our behaviour on the field, no doubt about that."

Pakistan captain Waqar Younis said he was not worried by sledging: "They (Australia) play very aggressive cricket and I think this is very good for the game.

"I find them very aggressive and very competitive cricketers. I don't see anything wrong with that."

The match at Colonial Stadium will mark the first time Ponting has captained an Australian team at home.

The second game of the series will be played at the same venue on Saturday with the third game at the `Gabba in Brisbane on June 19.

Teams
Australia (from) Matthew Hayden, Adam Gilchrist, Ricky Ponting (capt), Michael Bevan, Darren Lehmann, Jimmy Maher, Damien Martyn, Shane Watson, Shane Warne, Brett Lee, Andrew Bichel, Jason Gillespie, Glenn McGrath.

Pakistan (from) Saeed Anwar, Shahid Afridi, Imran Nazir, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Yousuf Youhana, Younis Khan, Azhar Mahmood, Rashid Latif, Wasim Akram, Shoaib Malik, Waqar Younis (capt), Shoaib Akhtar, Mohammad Sami.

© Wisden CricInfo Ltd