CHITTAGONG: Australia skipper Ricky Ponting is set to regain his top ranking in one-day cricket when his team clashes with Bangladesh in a three-match series starting here on Sunday.

Ponting lost the No. 1 slot early this week to India's Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who is just one point ahead of the Australian at 806. The Indian wicketkeeper-batsman plays his next one-dayer in the West Indies in May.

Strong favourite

Australia starts strong favourite to complete a double, having already beaten the host 2-0 in a recent Test series after surviving a scare in the opening match at Fatullah.

Bangladesh was just three wickets short of pulling off one of the major upsets in Test cricket before Ponting came to his team's rescue with an unbeaten century.

Australia eventually won the first Test by three wickets before reasserting its superiority with an innings victory in the second match here.

The tourists have four batsmen ranked in the top 10 in one-day cricket. Ponting (second) is followed by Adam Gilchrist (third), Andrew Symonds (fourth) and Michael Hussey (sixth).

But they would like to forget their last one-dayer against South Africa at Johannesburg where they failed to defend a total of 434 to lose by one wicket in March.

Australian off-spinner Dan Cullen is set to make his one-day debut on a pitch expected to favour slow bowlers. ``We have got two spinners in Brad Hogg and Cullen who we think will suit the conditions,'' Ponting said.

Bangladesh, which stunned Australia in a triangular series match at Cardiff last year, has been doing well in recent one-dayers at home.

It beat Sri Lanka in one of the three matches before blanking Kenya 4-0, the successes enabling the side to qualify for this year's Champions Trophy in India.

The host made two changes from the teams which lost the Test series, bringing in batsman Tushar Imran and seamer Syed Rasel in place of Enamul Haque and Abdur Razzak. — AFP

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