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| December 25, 2006 | Monday | Zilhaj 03, 1427 |
Australia seek sweep to honour retiring duo: Fourth Test starts tomorrow
MELBOURNE, Dec 24: The emotion and hype surrounding Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath's pending farewells is threatening to distract Australia in the build-up to the fourth Ashes Test against England at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
With the series already decided, Australia's players could be forgiven for taking it easy in the final two Tests but coach John Buchanan and captain Ricky Ponting have warned the team not to lose sight of the big picture.
Motivated by the taunts of English fans after losing their 16-year grip on the Ashes last year, Australia are determined to reinforce their domination over their rivals with a 5-0 series clean sweep, emulating the feat of Warwick Armstrong's 1920-21 Australians.
“Our mission here is not only to win the Ashes but also establish a huge gap between us and England,” Buchanan told reporters.
“We really want to finish these next two Test matches on a high note.”
Australia regained the Ashes in record time with two matches to spare after winning the first three matches of the series, but say they will not be satisfied with anything less than English humiliation.
Ponting said the Australians had to be careful not to get caught up in the inevitable hype surrounding the pending retirements of Warne and McGrath but could think of no better way to send them off than with a series whitewash.
“There is a strong feeling in the team that the job is only half finished and I'd be very disappointed if we lost a game from here,” Ponting said.
“We want to win the next two games and it would be a fitting end for Shane and Glenn.
“We can actually use that as some sort of motivation to make sure we send off two of the all-time greats of the game on the right note.”
Warne ended the third Test tantalisingly perched on 699 career wickets and is poised to become the first player to crack the once-unimaginable 700 milestone at his home ground.
With tickets for the match sold out in the 100,000-capacity stadium, Cricket Australia officials are expecting a world record attendance of over 400,000 if the match goes the full distance.
The MCG is Australia's grandest and most famous sporting stadium and was the centrepiece for the 1956 Olympics and this year's Commonwealth Games.
The match has been given added significance because it will be the 100th Test at the ground.
“I don't think the script could have been written any better,” said Warne.
England's players have vowed to spoil the party but after failing to put up much of a fight in the first three Tests, the Australians will have little to fear from a team that has been reduced to playing for lost pride.
Coach Duncan Fletcher faces almost daily calls to be sacked and there have been unconfirmed reports of a split in the camp over the merits of Andrew Flintoff's captaincy.
Marcus Trescothick walked out on the team before the first Test with depression and Ashley Giles left midway through the third Test to return home after his wife was diagnosed with a brain tumour.
Erratic fast bowler Steve Harmison announced this week he was quitting one-day cricket three months ahead of the World Cup, while struggling wicket-keeper Geraint Jones is under pressure to keep his job and Flintoff has needed painkillers just to get through training while trying to rally his troops.
“There's been a few things happening in the world of cricket over the past week, but it can't affect our preparations,” Flintoff said.
“We want to show we can win out here, we want to show we can win two test matches, it's a big occasion for us.
“There's a lot of character and a lot of pride in the dressing room and they will be keen to go out and show what good cricketers and what a good team we are.”
Teams (from):
AUSTRALIA: Ricky Ponting (captain), Justin Langer, Matthew Hayden, Michael Hussey, Michael Clarke, Andrew Symonds, Adam Gilchrist, Shane Warne, Brett Lee, Stuart Clark, Glenn McGrath, Mitchell Johnson.
ENGLAND: Andrew Flintoff (captain), Andrew Strauss, Alastair Cook, Ian Bell, Paul Collingwood, Kevin Pietersen, Geraint Jones, Chris Read, Matthew Hoggard, Sajid Mahmood, Steve Harmison, Monty Panesar.
Umpires: Aleem Dar (Pakistan) and Rudi Koertzen (South Africa).
Match referee: Ranjan Madugalle (Sri Lanka).—Reuters
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