West Indies plot downfall of Australia

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 23, 2006 (AFP) - Australia and the West Indies lock horns on Sunday to determine who goes to the Champions Trophy next month on a high, with both sides relying on their batsmen to come good and sneak victory.

The West Indies will need to be at their very best in the DLF Cup final to beat the world's top team, which has such depth in its squad that they have experimented here and yet still made the playoff at India's expense.

Captain Ricky Ponting said the tournament had been valuable experience for the younger members of the team, but is expected to field his strongest side on Sunday.

“We've mixed and matched our teams, and we've won just enough games to make the final, as we always wanted to do,” he said.

“We've got some younger players we see as being future Australian players but without having exposure at international level you really don't know what they are capable of.

“We knew it was going to be that way before we came away, so we've tried to do the best we can with the squad we've had here.”Even with an experimental team they have maintained their record of reaching every final of a triangular tournament they have played since the VB Series in 2001-02.

That failure led to Steve Waugh being replaced as one-day captain by Ponting, who now must decide whether to bring back form players Michael Clarke and Shane Watson, who both missed out against India on Friday.

Aside from a stubborn Matthew Hayden at the top of the order, and a maiden one-day century by Michael Hussey, Australia's batsmen have yet to click and Ponting knows this is an area that must improve.

“We've got to get a lot better before the final. The batting hasn't been good. We've got out of jail a couple of times,” he said.