Feast of the Fast & the furious

THE PITCH:

Though it looks like a belter the even spread of short grass to be trimmed will provide the usual pace and bounce.
PONTING’S PACE PROBLEM
The three options Ponting faces if he wants to include Lee
• Drop in-form paceman Kasprowicz
• Do the unthinkable, drop Warne for a home Test
• Go with five batsman. That means dropping any one among: Hayden, Langer, Martyn, Lehmann or Clarke. Lehmann seems the logical one … but isn’t he the vice-captain?
MOST PROBABLE VICTIMS IN PACE WAR:
Pakistan batsmen The usual Perth scenario on Day One — if the visitors bat first — is : 60/5 at lunch. In tour games Pakistan have not given any indication that things will be different. Twenty-year-old opener Salman Butt was the only exception with two 40-plus scores against Western Australia.

THE EXPERT OPINION: Don’t go flat out
Glenn McGrath
Two wickets short of becoming the highest wicket-taker at Perth he has not been able to get a fiver in his previous nine appreances. He made his Test debut here and has taken a hat-trick, which includes Brian Lara.
Bowlers could fall for the trap of bowling too fast and short or even too full on a ground where the ball goes to the rope if it beats the infield. It’s a very fine line.

THANKS, BUT SHOAIB KNOWS IT
I don’t want to hurt people, I want to get wickets and I will not bowl too short this time. I have moved on from that thing about being the fastest bowler in the world. I plan to take some of the pace off the ball and put it in the right areas. I think you will see me bowling around the 155k m/h mark.