SHARJAH: Fit-again Australian captain Michael Clarke said on Tuesday he hopes his team can carry the momentum of their Twenty20 and one-day wins over Pakistan into the two-match Test series starting next week.

Australia routed Pakistan 3-0 in the one-day series which finished on Sunday and also won the only Twenty20 match by five wickets in Dubai.

The 33-year-old, who sat out the one-day series due to a hamstring injury, will test his fitness in the four-day preparation match against Pakistan ‘A’ starting from Wednesday.

That will put Clarke on course for the first of two Tests starting in Dubai from Oct 22. The second Test will be played in Abu Dhabi from Oct 30.

“It’s obviously a different format of the game but the players that have been involved in T20 and one-day series will take that confidence into the Test matches,” said Clarke. “In any form of the game I love seeing Australia have success and win and the momentum players have been able to produce is really exciting and hopefully, the Test players can grab that momentum and continue to run with it.”

Pakistan have not beaten Australia in a Test series since the match-fixing 1995 home games.

Then Pakistan captain Salim Malik was banned for life after Australian players — Shane Warne, Mark Waugh and Tim May — alleged he offered them a bribe to under-perform on that tour.

Clarke showed confidence of regaining full fitness after getting injured on the tour of Zimbabwe in August.

“I feel a lot better now than I did certainly after Zimbabwe when I tore a hamstring so I will be playing in the four day match. I think I am just trying to take every single step along the way and listen to the experts,” he said.

“I have always worked exceptionally hard on my fitness and at 33 of age that will certainly continue. I feel fit and I have given my body every single chance to be as close to 100 percent as possible on a daily basis.”

Clarke said Pakistan always pose different challenges.

“I think Pakistan in general are very talented in all formats of the game, always had very good spin bowlers and good fast bowlers who can execute reverse swing.

“I think there are probably two major areas as to how you face spin and how you face reverse swing and the other side of that is how you bowl spin and how you bowl reverse swing,” said Clarke.

Clarke says he has confidence in his one-day ability.

“I feel I still have got lot to offer in one day cricket. The big reason why I retired from T20 was to give myself the chance to be the best I can possibly be in the other two formats and help Australia have success I think it has probably given me more hunger to get back into the one-day format which I have been missing in the last couple of series,” the Australian captain added.

Published in Dawn, October 15th , 2014