Jaques can be like Gilly - Waugh

Steve Waugh says Phil Jaques, the debutant opener, is the prototype for future Australian batsmen. Waugh, who captained Jaques at New South Wales, has told his former team-mate to play the same way that has earned him comparisons with Adam Gilchrist.

"He can take attacks apart," Waugh said in The Courier-Mail. "He is so powerful he can go over the top or through the field. He gets on a roll and keeps going. He's unorthodox. He can catch bowlers by surprise and I think people will be surprised how powerfully he hits the ball."

Jaques, who will replace the injured Justin Langer, met his captain Ricky Ponting and vice-captain Adam Gilchrist for the first time this week and the team is excited. "He's got his game in order and everyone I've spoken to or heard from says he's a very, very good player," Ponting said in The Australian. "I'm told that he has a slightly different technique and hits the ball in different areas to what most blokes do and seems to be a fairly attacking, aggressive player. It will be good to see him bat."

During Waugh's last year of first-class cricket he felt Jaques was batting like Gilchrist. "In the long term, Australia is lucky to have a player like him coming through," Waugh said. "He has the ability to win a match. He wants to have a career out of cricket but he also wants to enjoy it. He is the prototype for young players who want to play for Australia."

After knocking back offers to qualify for England, Jaques has no intention of changing his approach for Monday's second Test. "It's got me to where I am," he said in The Australian. "I'm going to be playing my game on Boxing Day and have plenty of fun with it. I'm not by the textbook and I'm going to play that way."