KARACHI, Aug 18: Pakistan's cricket coach Bob Woolmer said on Wednesday that he foresaw a tough contest in the upcoming encounters with India and Australia in the Netherlands.

A 14-man Pakistan side left for Amsterdam early on Wednesday to play Australia and India in a tri-series between Aug 21 and 28 and then take part in the ICC Champions Trophy next month.

The Netherlands, although a cricket-playing nation, is merely hosting the tri-series. "Both the events will be very testing, more than the Asia Cup, because the Australian and Indian teams are powerful and conditions are different," said Woolmer, 56, who played 19 Tests for England but coached South Africa from 1994 to 1998.

Since his induction as Pakistan's 12th coach in six years in June, Woolmer guided the revitalised side to four wins out of five matches in last month's Asia Cup in Sri Lanka.

Pakistan's failure in not winning a bonus point in an otherwise comprehensive 59-run win and failure against Sri Lanka cost them a place in Asia Cup final. "We are working in the way where the team must learn consistently and show improvement, and both things are important for any team to grow," Woolmer said.

Woolmer said he told the team that the performance of Australia, world champions in both Tests and one-day cricket, should be the benchmark. "Australians should be the benchmark and even they achieved the current status after a continuous process," he said, adding that Pakistan would face the biggest test during the Australia tour later this year.

Captain Inzamamul Haq said Australia's presence in the Dutch tri-series would spur his young side. "Australia is the team to beat at international level and after the Asia Cup I hope that the team keeps the right momentum," Inzamam said. "Both the tri-series and ICC Trophy are great challenge for the young team and we are ready to do our best," he said. "The aim is to win both the events and we are capable of it." -AFP