George set to debut, Laxman to play in second Test

Peter George is in line for his Test debut against India at Bangalore on Saturday after the withdrawal of Doug Bollinger.

Indian batsman VVS Laxman, meanwhile, seems likely to play after a late afternoon throw-down session with coach Gary Kirsten at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium.

If he does take his place, there will be no repeat of the generosity that allowed him a runner during both innings of the Mohali Test.

“If he comes into the game, knowing what we had last week, he can’t bring in pre-existing injuries and expect to have a runner,” said Australian captain Ricky Ponting.

“I don’t see any concerns with him, though. He actually looked pretty good with his movements as far as I am concerned about the last game.

“I am a bit surprised he hasn’t batted today but he is obviously giving himself as much recovery time as possible.”
Having been part fo the Australian touring squad twice before, George has experience and familiarity in his favour, and has also been gaining both new and old ball swing with the SG ball in practice.

George, 23, did not train alongside his rivals James Pattinson and Mitchell Starc on Thursday but only exceptional circumstances will push them ahead of the SA seamer.

“He’s got a lot of things in his favour, the fact that he’s played 18 or 19 Sheffield Shield games as well is a bit of a bonus for him and he probably knows the step up for him might not be as great as for Starc and Pattinson,” said Ponting.

“The two games George has played for us, Derby last year and then the practice game at the start of this tour, he’s looked very, very good.

“He’s one of those guys who keeps things pretty simple but if you talk to him and ask him to do something he’ll just do what you want ball after ball after ball.

“So that’s a nice thing to have as a captain to know whatever you say that these guys will go try and do for you.”

Teams
INDIA (likely): MS Dhoni (capt), Virender Sehwag, Murali Vijay, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Suresh Raina, Harbhajan Singh, Pragyan Ojha, Zaheer Khan, Sreesanth, Amit Mishra (12th man).

AUSTRALIA: Ricky Ponting (capt), Shane Watson, Michael Clarke, Peter George, Nathan Hauritz, Ben Hilfenhaus, Mike Hussey, Mitchell Johnson, Simon Katich, Marcus North, Tim Paine, Steven Smith (12th man).

The Ashes journey begins

The Australian cricket team have left Australia to begin their tour of England, with a mission to reclaim the Ashes.

Australian captain Michael Clarke and his teammates were optimistic about their chances before jetting off.


Click here to hear the thoughts of our Australian cricket team as they left for England.

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