Waugh promises a good show at Darwin

Steve Waugh has promised fans that Australia would "put on a good show" when his side takes on bottom-ranked Bangladesh in the first of two Tests at Darwin this week.

"We haven't played much cricket in the past four or five weeks, so it should be a good contest," said Waugh, in a remark that can fairly be called an exaggeration of pre-match non-committal neutrality. "We expect it to be a Test match and we're going to play as hard as we can. I don't know what the result is going to be, but we play as if it's going to be a tough Test match."

Odds of 17-1 are being offered on Australia winning the Test within one day, but Waugh dismissed such speculation, saying that it was "more a problem for the media. It's exciting. It's a new venue for us all. We've never played Bangladesh in a Test before, in a Test series, so we're looking forward to the challenge of playing up here."

"At this stage of Bangladesh's experience, to play against the supposed top five in world cricket is important," added Waugh.

Bangladesh added a second tour win to their kitty when they beat the Northern Territories Chief Minister's XI by two wickets yesterday, and Waugh said that was "good to see. Emerging sides ... need a lot of match practice. They've played a couple of good games and I'm sure their form is okay."

Waugh refused to reveal the intended combination of the side at Darwin, stating merely that it would be as balanced a side as possible. "The West Indies was a bit different because the wickets were slow and low. We needed an extra bowler," said Waugh. "If we think we need that, we'll go with that mix again.

If he scores a century in either of the two Tests, Waugh achieves the personal milestone of having notched up a hundred against every Test-playing nation. "I haven't played a Test match against these guys and neither has any of the other players, so to score a hundred is something to look forward to, but there's a lot of work to be done before that," said Waugh.

"It's going to be a big crowd up here and we want to put on a good show," he added. "Bangladesh may play well and you never know, that's what sport is all about. It doesn't matter if you beat them by a massive margin or a single run, that's whats it's about."