Wounded Oz vulnerable: Lara

West Indian batting maestro Brian Lara senses that a wounded Australia are vulnerable and ripe for another beating in this week8217;s one-d...

West Indian batting maestro Brian Lara senses that a wounded Australia are vulnerable and ripe for another beating in this week8217;s one-dayer Super Series here against the World XI.

Lara said Australia, hurting after losing the Ashes to England last month, looked ready for the taking and urged his Rest of the World team mates to put the pressure on Ricky Ponting8217;s team.

Asked at today8217;s official launch of the Super Series here if Australia were looking vulnerable, Lara said, 8220;Most definitely. It8217;s just after England and I think at present they are wounded after the Ashes. We can even things up by applying the pressure from the Rest of the World, because that8217;s who we represent.8221;

Australian skipper Ricky Ponting quipped that the only scar he had from the Ashes series was on his right cheek after ducking into a short-pitched delivery in the first Lord8217;s Test. But he said his team had moved on from the agony of relinquishing the Ashes.

8220;I think we8217;ve all had some time to sit back and think about the Ashes series,8221; Ponting said at the press conference.

8220;Obviously, it was a disappointing one for us. England played very well, there8217;s no doubt about that, but that8217;s over and done now and forgotten about as far as I am concerned and I am sure as the rest of our players are concerned,8221; Ponting said.

8220;It8217;s another great challenge that lies ahead of us over the next couple of weeks and that8217;s all we8217;ve been focusing on and hopefully we8217;ve learned from our mistakes that we made during the Ashes.

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8220;If we don8217;t learn from them then we8217;re pretty stupid. But we8217;ve done that, we8217;ve forgotten about the Ashes, we8217;ve moved on and we8217;re looking forward to this challenge.8221;

Ponting confirmed that Simon Katich will open the batting along with Adam Gilchrist in this week8217;s ODI series after the axing of regular opening batsman Matthew Hayden.

World XI skipper Shaun Pollock played down talk that his team of all-stars will struggle to mould into a team capable of downing Australia on their home turf.

Back to the base

Melbourne: Australia8217;s chastened cricket team has summoned an American baseball coach to help rid them of the fielding fumbles that blighted their Ashes campaign against England.

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The Australians are putting their Ashes lessons to use by recruiting Mike Young. The senior American baseball coach, who once managed the Australian national baseball team, has worked with the Australian one-day cricket team for five years.