Bevan set to return for Australia

Michael Bevan will return to the Australia side for Thursday's triangular series clash against England as the world champions continue to rotate their squad.

Bevan, arguably the world's best one-day batsman, was left out of the team that beat England at Bristol on Sunday, but captain Steve Waugh said someone else would miss out at Old Trafford.

"One of the top order will rest for this match, maybe Mark Waugh, Rick Ponting or Damien Martyn," Waugh said. "We will be juggling our players for every game. We've done it for 12 months now.

"It's worked well and everyone is comfortable with it. Michael Bevan knew he would be rested at some stage and he's the world's best player. So if he can rest anyone can, and it's just part of the way we want to play the game.''

GILLESPIE RETURN

Fast bowler Jason Gillespie will also return to the side against England, who are without a win from three matches in the three-team tournament.

Waugh, however, is not taking anything for granted.

"They will be encouraged by the way they have come back in their recent games," he said. "They were in a good position to win on Monday (against Pakistan) which they probably should have won from, but they panicked a bit in the last 10 overs and that comes with experience and confidence.

"They have played pretty well but just haven't finished the game off."

Waugh believes England only need one victory to change their fortunes in the one-day game, though they are on a record eight-match losing streak.

"England are in a catch-22 situation,'' he said. "You have to win to know how to win. But somebody has to make that breakthrough, put their hand up and turn that cycle around. You just need one guy to do it and the others will feed off that strength.

"I think they are not playing that badly. You have to take it series by series and two out of their last three games they could have and should have won.''

TRESCOTHICK

Waugh pinpointed opener Marcus Trescothick as one player capable of inspiring England, especially after his innings of 137 against Pakistan on Monday.

"He's got a good temperament," Waugh said. "He reminds me quite a bit of Mark Taylor in that respect. He is going well and is a good player, but we've got an idea in mind of how to bowl to him in Test matches.

"He's only been on the scene for 12 months and that can be a good period for a batsman because nobody else has seen him, but we have time to work him out before that first Test."

Waugh does not expect the result will have any effect on the summer's test series.

"It's nice to go into a Test series with wins under you belt in the one-dayers but realistically it won't make any difference," he said. "Test matches are a different type of cricket and they will have some new faces in the squad.

"I also don't think we have peaked at all. We are a long way from that," Waugh added. "Our batting has been very good, the bowling has been satisfactory and the field has been pretty good as well.

"We certainly can improve a lot. We are currently playing at around 70 per cent so we have a long way to go."

Mail Cricket Editor