BBC SPORT | NATWEST SERIES | Spotlight switches to dress rehearsal

NatWest Series, Trent Bridge:
Australia v Pakistan

Although security issues have largely overshadowed the NatWest Series in recent days, Australia and Pakistan get back down to business at Trent Bridge on Tuesday in a dress rehearsal for Saturday's final.

And the decider at Lord's is likely to be at the forefront of both team's thinking in the day/night match.

Australian captain Steve Waugh said: "We are trying a few things ourselves at the moment.

As a player you still do not feel all that safe - the time has come that people should not be allowed on the ground

Steve Waugh

"In these next two games we can experiment a bit more - but we still want to win. We want to make sure we have a good sequence of winning games."

Waugh was also concerned about security following the pitch invasion by Pakistani fans at Headingley on Sunday.

"We are just concerned about the general behaviour," he said, recalling an incident when Australia last played Pakistan at Cardiff.

"We were at Cardiff and we saw a young English boy being belted by a group of Pakistanis, and nobody did anything about it.

"When that sort of stuff happens you think 'what is going on here?' The security was just not good enough.

Temporary fencing has been erected at Trent Bridge
Fencing has been erected at Trent Bridge
"As a player you still do not feel all that safe. The time has come that people should not be allowed on the ground."

Commenting on the Headingley incident, he said: "Obviously it was pretty nasty. But it was not unexpected - the players have been worried about that for quite a while.

"It is nice to know that something has been done about it for this game and, I hope, for the future."

Waugh's team will be the same as it would have been up at Riverside, where the sides' meeting was washed out on Saturday.

Pace spearhead Glenn McGrath and in-form batsman Ricky Ponting are both rested.

The indications from the Pakistani team are that Wasim Akram is still not fully fit from his shoulder injury and may sit out.

Australia: A Gilchrist (wkt), M Hayden, M Waugh, D Martyn, M Bevan, S Waugh (captain), A Symonds, S Warne, D Fleming, J Gillespie, B Lee.

Pakistan (from): Saeed Anwar, Shahid Afridi, Salim Elahi, Abdur Razzaq, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Yousuf Youhana, Azhar Mahmood, Younis Khan, Fazl-e-Akbar, Rashid Latif (wkt), Waqar Younis (captain), Saqlain Mushtaq.

Umpires: Neil Mallender (Eng) and George Sharp (Eng).
Third umpire: Vanburn Holder (W Indies).
Match referee: Brian Hastings (Nzl).


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