Gilchrist backs Australia to pass test

Ricky Ponting and John Buchanan have plenty of thinking to do ahead of the first Test © Getty Images

Adam Gilchrist is confident Australia will not suffer from their extraordinary one-day defeat when they square up against South Africa in the first Test at Cape Town on Thursday. Ricky Ponting has already voiced his concerns about how the team will react to conceding 438 on Sunday, but Gilchrist was more certain about Australia's ability to overcome the defeat.

"I don't think Sunday's result changes the way you prepare for a Test match. We've certainly put that behind us," Gilchrist told Reuters. "Win, lose or draw that game you start again today with the white gear on and we've got about five or six changes to our personnel so it's just getting familiar with the red ball again."

Reflecting on the match at Johannesburg, Gilchrist said: "It was an extraordinary game but it's not like we were embarrassed to any extent. Both teams knew they had featured in something quite unique and there are plenty of good things we can take out of it that will help us flow on nicely to the Tests."

Australia's squad has been reinforced for the Tests by the key trio of Matthew Hayden, Justin Langer and Shane Warne. However, the make-up of the bowling attack is still not clear - even to Gilchrist. Michael Kasprowicz, Shaun Tait and Stuart Clark are the pace bowling options behind Brett Lee, while Stuart MacGill is being tipped to partner Warne.

"There's a variety of options we've got there, but I'm not any closer to knowing exactly what we'll go with," he said. "Lee's the spearhead, he's the strike weapon and he has been through the summer and certainly has been through our one-day campaign. I wouldn't tag him that to take anything away from the other bowlers, but he's certainly our go-to man for pace."

Despite conceding such a huge total at Johannesburg - a result that further highlighted the absence of Glenn McGrath - Gilchrist believes Australia have the strength to cover his loss for the Test series. "We're slowly getting used to playing cricket without the legends that we've got now," he said. "We were without Warney some time ago and we were able to cover that. We've had times without Ricky and we've been able to cover that. Glenn's another huge loss but it's an opportunity for someone else and we feel confident we can cover that."

South Africa have been gripped by cricket fever since the amazing scenes at the Wanderers and there has been a rush for tickets. Goolam Rajah, the South Africa team manager, said: "Sunday's amazing match was the best marketing exercise ever. People who were not interested in cricket before have suddenly become interested. They want to see the game live. It was the same in England last year, when England won the Ashes - interest in cricket rocketed."