Australia push for clean sweep

It's a dead rubber in name only. Australia wrapped up the series against South Africa in Durban last week but while Thursday's third Test in Cape Town will not affect the series result, there are a host of players desperate to complete strong auditions ahead of the Ashes tour.

The Newlands match is Australia's last Test before the trip to England and men like Ben Hilfenhaus, Marcus North and Andrew McDonald will be keen to cap off their already positive performances with another impressive effort. Australia's coach Tim Nielsen will spend the next few days pounding into his players the message that they must push for a 3-0 clean sweep.

"It's really important for us because this team is a young, new team so they're setting their own standards a little bit and they're putting their own footprint on the world of cricket," Nielsen said. "It's not like it's the same guys who have been around for the past ten years and have done it all, all over the world.

"These guys are doing it for the first time anywhere, so they've got an opportunity to set their own standards, to ensure that two Tests are only two-thirds of a three-Test series. Maybe that's one of the nice things about having a young group. Every day they wake up they can't wait to play for Australia."

While some of the new faces like Phillip Hughes have already cemented their spots for the foreseeable future, others like Hilfenhaus know that their fate rests partially in how the selectors treat veterans like Stuart Clark and Brett Lee, who missed the South Africa tour due to injury but will be ready for the Ashes. Lee has expressed his strong desire to return to the new-ball role as soon as possible and Nielsen said it was impossible to ignore Lee's strong credentials.

"Binga [Lee] is a 300 Test wicket bowler. We've only got four of them in Australian history. You don't throw the baby out with the bathwater," Nielsen said. "He had a pretty bad foot and ankle injury and has taken a fair while to get over it. To have Binga back in the mix bowling 150kph outswingers, any team is going to take that

"As long as they [Lee and Clark] are fit and can bowl at their optimum they have deserved their opportunity. There will be times in the future when this bowling group will be sore or tired and needs to miss a game through injury. When they go out through injury, and are playing well at the time they are injured, they are going to come back in."

Australia's immediate selection question is whether to include a spinner in the Cape Town Test after having such success with a four-man seam attack in Johannesburg and Durban. The chairman of selectors Andrew Hilditch said that Newlands was a venue where a slow bowler was most likely to be of use but the decision would ultimately come down to conditions on the ground.

Nathan Hauritz and the uncapped Bryce McGain have waited patiently throughout the tour, hoping for their opportunity, and if it does come in Cape Town it would mostly be at the expense of McDonald. Although it would be useful for Australia to give the legspinner McGain a taste of Test cricket before the Ashes, Nielsen said the selection would be purely based on the best side to win at Newlands.

"If we play Bryce it will be because he fits into our squad the best," Nielsen said. "If we start taking a 'let's see how he goes' attitude it really does become a dead rubber for us. We will do the very best we can to pick the side that we think is best for these conditions, the spinners will definitely come into play for that."

Australia's players had a four-day break in Cape Town following the second Test because their wives and girlfriends joined the group. Safari trips and holiday activities have now given way to training and the players were to hit the nets for their first full practice session on Monday. The squad has been trimmed with the cover fast bowler Steve Magoffin having returned home to Western Australia as the team's injury worries subsided.