SYDNEY, Dec 22: Pakistan captain Inzamamul Haq and strike bowler Shoaib Akhtar have been cleared to play in the second Test against Australia starting in Melbourne on Sunday.

Inzamam has been suffering from a long-term back problem while Shoaib injured his shoulder and ankle in the crushing first Test defeat in Perth. Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer said there was no miracle remedy for Inzamam's back troubles but the skipper was able to control it through exercise and swimming.

"It's one of those horrible things that can flare up at any time and we have to try and manage it now," Woolmer said. "We weren't sure what it was for a long time so we're very happy we've found out. Now we know it's going to be helped by certain types of exercises."

Woolmer, meanwhile, said he had given up on trying to persuade Shoaib, widely regarded as the fastest bowler in the world, to shorten his run-up. Woolmer made the request because of an International Cricket Council's clampdown on slow over rates but was told by the bowler: "It's hard for a jet plane to take off without a runway."

"It's an ongoing discussion," Woolmer added, saying any change would have to be done after the three-Test tour. Meanwhile, master leg-spinner Shane Warne is confident of a Boxing Day Test haul of Pakistan wickets, saying the visitors' batsmen don't have the patience and guile to work him out.

Australia smashed Pakistan by a whopping 491 runs in last weekend's first Test at Perth, provoking a hostile reaction from supporters back home after they meekly surrendered in their second innings for 72.

This will be Warne's first Boxing Day Test since 2001, with injury and a 12-month drug ban keeping him out of the past two of Australian cricket's grandest annual occasion.

Test cricket's leading wicket-taker believes he has plenty of wickets coming his way at the MCG, with a stunning return of 79 wickets in 13 Tests against Pakistan at 18.37, including two 10-wicket hauls.

Warne took 3-38 in Pakistan's first innings in Australia's first Test rout and didn't get to bowl a ball in Pakistan's woeful second innings as the visitors capitulated to pacemen Glenn McGrath and Michael Kasprowicz.

But Warne is expecting more on his home MCG pitch, saying many of the Pakistanis don't read his bowling. "One of the things against Pakistan is that they've either decided to block you or try to hit you for six - there's no real in-between," Warne said Wednesday.

"Hopefully, they'll continue to play like that. If they start running down the wicket and trying to dominate me, they've tried that in the past and I suppose that's why my record is the way it is.

"They're not very patient, they don't sit down, try to work you out and hang in there. "They don't play like that and that works into my hands. If they continue to play like they do, it will be a good Test match for Australia and hopefully I can get a few wickets along the way." But Warne believes Pakistan, strengthened by fit-again skipper InzamamUl Haq and pace spearhead Shoaib Akhtar, will cope better with the MCG than the fast bouncy Perth wicket.

"They're a very good side. You look at their side and they've got batsmen who average mid-40s to 50s - it's not as if these guys can't play," he said. "Coming out here and knowing the way the Pakistan team work, they're unpredictable.

"They could easily come out here and make 500 or knock us over." Warne's MCG appearance will mark the 10th anniversary of his memorable Hat trick there in the 1994 Boxing Day Test against England. -AFP