Ponting looks forward to Lord's

In what has been touted as a replay of the World Cup final in 1999, Australia will take on Pakistan at Lord's tomorrow. This will also serve as a warm-up game for the Champions Trophy, which begins on September 10. Australia scraped home in a low-scoring thriller in the final of the Videocon Cup at Amstelveen recently, and Pakistan will go all out to avenge the loss.

However, Ricky Ponting said that the Australians weren't using the Videocon Cup as a barometer: "Obviously we got a decent look at them [Pakistan] in Holland recently, and it was good for our momentum to come away with a win. But in saying that, we're not reading too much into the result of the Holland final because we know the conditions in England will be completely different."

Looking forward to the encounter, he expanded: "Pakistan are a quality side, possessing an excellent pace attack led by Shoaib [Akhtar] and some dangerous batsmen such as Inzamam-ul-Haq and Yousuf [Youhana]. When you're competing against players of that calibre, you're bound to have a good contest, which is very important to us as we prepare for the Champions Trophy."

Ponting also touched upon coming back to Lord's, the venue of their World Cup victory in 1999. "We have some great memories of playing Pakistan at Lord's, having beaten them in the World Cup final in 1999 and in the NatWest Series in 2001. It's always a thrill to play at the home of cricket, and it will be a special day for a number of our younger players who have yet to represent Australia at the ground."

Ponting said that his players were fully geared up for the Champions Trophy after some useful practice at the Rose Bowl in Southampton. "The boys are feeling fresh leading into the month ahead. It was disappointing that we missed two matches in Holland due to the weather, but the cricket we did play was good, including an excellent win in the tournament final," he said. "By the time we have played Pakistan, followed by our lead-up match against Hampshire, I'd like to think we'd be playing somewhere near our best for the start of the Champions Trophy."

Brad Haddin will continue to keep wicket, as he did in Holland, in the continued absence of Adam Gilchrist, whose wife recently gave birth to their secod child. He will join the side for the Champions Trophy.

Australian squad
Matthew Hayden, Brad Haddin (wk), Ricky Ponting (capt), Darren Lehmann, Damien Martyn, Michael Clarke, Andrew Symonds, Ian Harvey, Brad Hogg, Shane Watson, Jason Gillespie, Michael Kasprowicz, Brett Lee, Glenn McGrath.