PERTH, Dec 8: Pakistan named a near full-strength team on Wednesday for its four-day warm-up match against Western Australia beginning on Thursday at the WACA ground, while Australian Test opener Justin Langer will lead the host team.

Pakistan will use opening bowlers Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Sami in an effort to get them used to the fast, bouncy pitch. Akhtar and Sami have bowled just 27 overs between them on tour, while several of Pakistan's batsmen have form and injury concerns.

Opener Imran Farhat has made just 35 runs in three innings, while Shoaib Malik has not yet reached double figures and is no certainty to play Thursday because of a wrist injury he sustained playing a game of table soccer. He faces an early morning fitness test.

Captain Inzamam-ul-Haq has played only one innings on tour _ the 16 he made against the Chairman's XI on Tuesday. Langer, who will captain the Western Australia side, said he'll provide Australia's Test team with a scouting report on the visitors.

"I've spoken to (Australian coach) John Buchanan and (captain) Ricky (Ponting) and it's a good opportunity for me to play and have a good look at them," said Langer. "We'll go into the first test match prepared, knowing how we can attack their batsmen."

Meanwhile, Pakistan cricket coach Bob Woolmer is expecting his top-order batsmen to hit more than 50 runs apiece when the tourists take on the Western Australian state side in a four-day match starting on Thursday.

Apart from a polished 115 not out by left-handed opener Salman Butt in a one-day fixture against a Cricket Australia Chairman's XI on Tuesday, the Pakistan batsmen failed to punish the makeshift bowling attack with Imran Farhat the next top score on 25. But Woolmer maintained he was delighted with the way his team was adapting to the Australian conditions and predicted the best was yet to come. "The last two practices have been fantastic, I've been very pleased with it.

I think they're learning to bat on these pitches - however, saying that, we've still got some time," Woolmer said. The former England Test player said the opening spots were still up for grabs although Salman had put in a strong claim for one of them.

"We've got three players fighting for that at the moment and it will end up on form. Salman Butt has put his hand up, Imran Farhat has played reasonably well on tour, Yasir Hameed hasn't got going yet," he said.

"It really will be up to those two to sort themselves out in the next game." Woolmer said it was vital for the opening Test batsmen to forge a close relationship. "We're hoping (they bond quickly). That's the key," he said.

"They've all scored runs, they've all scored big hundreds, two hundreds in domestic cricket against other sides - they can all do it they've just got to realise that they're playing against a good team and they've got to put their hands up and pick their form up."

Woolmer said he was expecting Pakistan to make big advances in the match against Western Australia so he only had to fine-tune selections for the Test. "The important game is the four-day game against Western Australia where I will be looking for all of the batsmen to try and get between 50 and 100 or somewhere along those lines," he said.

TEAMS:

WESTERN AUSTRALIA (FROM): Justin Langer (captain), Michael Hussey, Ryan Campbell, Beau Casson, Brett Dorey, Ben Edmondson, Murray Goodwin, Kade Harvey, Steve Magoffin, Shaun Marsh, Marcus North, Chris Rogers.

PAKISTAN (FROM): Inzamam-ul-Haq (captain), Salman Butt, Imran Farhat, Yousuf Youhana, Younis Khan, Shoaib Malik, Abdul Razzaq, Kamran Akmal, Shoaib Akhtar, Mohammad Sami, Danish Kaneria, Mohammad Khalil. -Agencies

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