— Photo: S. Subramanium

THE WORKHORSE: Ian Bradshaw has served this West Indies team well of late and has proved an asset to skipper Brian Lara.

Kuala Lumpur: They have five World Cups, Sir Donald Bradman and Sir Gary Sobers between them. Over the last four decades, one or the other has been the alpha male of world cricket.

Less ponderous thoughts, however, will occupy the minds of the Australian and the West Indian sides as they kick-start the DLF Cup here at the Kinrara Oval on Tuesday. The simple matter of getting started has to be dealt with.

"Well, we don't expect to set the world on fire tomorrow," said Australian captain Ricky Ponting, whose side last played in April. His opposite number — still in charge after negotiating through another sticky spat with his board — implied the same. Both are looking at the tournament as preparation for bigger things to follow.

"We are going to mix and match over the next four games. A tournament like this lends itself to that," said Ponting. "We've got 18 guys here, so it's hard to keep track, we haven't mapped it out all up yet. But, the goal is to try and give everyone enough match time. And if we reach the final, we'll revert to the usual side."

`Unfortunate'

Brian Lara, who is more articulate, picked a tangential thread. "It's unfortunate that we have to qualify for the Champions Trophy — I feel let down by it. Playing against the likes of Bangladesh, Zimbabwe wouldn't have been ideal going into the main matches. It's good to have real competitive cricket here ahead of that."

In a match loaded with grand-daddies — they come no grander than Lara, Ponting, Hayden — the one everyone's keeping an eye out for is Glenn McGrath. `Pidge' — short for Pidgeon — showed on Sunday just why he's one of the finest of his tribe.

Having spent much of this year at his wife's side, McGrath might have been excused for rust. Instead, the 1.98 metre-tall paceman gave Damien Martyn a harrowing time in the nets, getting him to nick behind twice, before cutting him in half. After the session, McGrath — rump flattened on turf — spoke to Simon Katich, who will open with Phil Jacques on Tuesday, about the left-hander's tendency to walk across his stumps.

"Glenn has been working really hard on his comeback, and I have the highest expectations of him," said Ponting of his go-to man, and added that he would give his quicks short spells because of the heat and humidity.

Battle within the battle

Lara, who has had many a memorable battle with McGrath, said, "We've played together for 12-13 years since Glenn arrived on the scene. He's had a lot of success against myself. But, I've had success against Australia. It'll be good to renew it." The Australians, who — barring Brett Lee — put on a catching master-class under lights on Sunday night, eased off a smidgeon on Monday. "Yeah, the lights are a little lower, but they seemed alright," said Ponting. "That was the idea, to get used to them."

He also said Mike Hussey, Andrew Symonds, and Brad Hogg wouldn't play on Tuesday.

Fielding incidentally was one of the differentiators for West Indies against India — fielding, Ramnaresh Sarwan's form, and Lara's tactical sparkle borne of instinct and meticulous preparation.

"The preparation has not been as methodical this time," said Lara. "It's going to be a long haul to the World Cup. And we have to make sure everyone is fresh — both the mental and the physical aspect of it. We saw no point in having a camp, and so while the preparation hasn't been that good for this particular tournament, this itself will be preparation for the tournaments to follow."

The playing surface has, thus far, received a good rap. The short square boundaries will endanger wind-screens on the highway that overlooks the ground.

As they say in Malaysia — well, they don't actually, but why labour the point? — bring on the cricket.

The teams (from):

Australia: Ricky Ponting (capt.), Phil Jacques, Simon Katich, Damien Martyn, Michael Clarke, Matthew Hayden, Brad Haddin (wk), Shane Watson, Brett Lee, Nathan Bracken, Glenn McGrath, Dan Cullen, Mitchell Johnson, Stuart Clark, Mark Cosgrove.

West Indies: Brian Lara (capt), Chris Gayle, Wavell Hinds, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Marlon Samuels, Dwayne Bravo, Carlton Baugh, Ian Bradhsaw, Fidel Edwards, Corey Collymore, Jerome Taylor, Dwayne Smith, Runako Morton.

Umpires: Asad Rauf (Pakistan) and Mark Benson (England). Third umpire: Tony Hill (New Zealand). Match referee: Chris Broad. Hours of play (IST): 12 noon to 3.30 p.m., 4.15 p.m. till close.

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