MELBOURNE, June 11: Widely criticised for their on-field sledging in recent matches, Australia will aim to be on their best behaviour when they meet Pakistan Wednesday in the first match of a three-game one-day series.
Australian one-day captain Ricky Ponting said Tuesday that the world champions had been working on improving their conduct in the light of recent criticism by South African players.
“There’s always going to be sledging in cricket or gamesmanship, whatever you like to call it,” he said. “But I won’t accept guys in the Australian side getting too personal with things they say.”
Rookie South African batsman Graeme Smith made several controversial allegations about what Australian players had said to him on the field earlier this year.
“We’re not there yet, we’re not where we’d like to be, but we’re certainly going to work on that and certainly going to improve that as much as we can,” Ponting told reporters.
“I’ve said all the way along I won’t accept guys in the Australian side getting too personal with the things they say.
“We can still improve on our behaviour on the field, no doubt about that.”
Pakistan captain Waqar Younis said he was not worried by sledging.
“They play very aggressive cricket and I think this is very good for the game,” he said.
“I think they’re perfect. I find them very aggressive and very competitive cricketers. I don’t see anything wrong with that.”
The match at Colonial Stadium will mark the first time Ponting has captained an Australian team at home.
The second game of the series will be played at the same venue on Saturday with the third game at the Gabba in Brisbane on June 19.
The series has been promoted as a clash between Pakistan’s Shoaib Akhtar and Australia’s Brett Lee for the title of the world’s fastest bowler.
Ponting said: “Brett won’t be at his peak but it’s going to be exciting to see them go head-to-head.”
Officials from both teams told a media conference that they had yet to finalise their teams for the series-opener.
Teams (from):
Australia: Ricky Ponting (captain), Adam Gilchrist, Michael Bevan, Andrew Bichel, Jason Gillespie, Matthew Hayden, Brett Lee, Darren Lehmann, Jimmy Maher, Damien Martyn, Glenn McGrath, Shane Warne, Shane Watson.
Pakistan: Waqar Younis (captain), Inzamam-ul-Haq, Shahid Afridi, Shoaib Akhtar, Wasim Akram, Saeed Anwar, Younis Khan, Rashid Latif, Azhar Mahmood, Shoaib Malik, Imran Nazir, Mohammad Sami, Yousuf Youhana.—AFP/Reuters