Waqar on course to face Australians

Waqar Younis, troubled by a groin injury, bowled three impressive overs in a training session yesterday in preparation for the first Test against Australia in Brisbane starting tomorrow.

The groin complaint that has restricted the fast bowler to nine first- class overs on tour had no effect yesterday. "I'm feeling very good," Waqar said. "I've been bowling for the last four or five days now, it's quite good and I believe I'll be OK."

The Australian coach, Bobby Simpson, said: "You never know against Pakistan. They seem to always play well against us but every now and again they have an absolute shocker.

"The extra bounce of the wicket generally causes their batsmen a lot of trouble. If they have a day on they are a real handful but on the other hand we think we've got a pretty powerful batting line-up, and we handled them in Pakistan."

AUSTRALIA (First Test v Pakistan, Brisbane, starting tomorrow) From: M A Taylor (capt), M J Slater, D C Boon, M E Waugh, S R Waugh, G S Blewett, I A Healy (wkt), P R Reiffel, B P Julian, S K Warne, C J McDermott, G D McGrath.

PAKISTAN (probable): Aamir Sohail, Saleem Elahi, Ramiz Raja, Inzamam- ul-Haq, Salim Malik, Basit Ali, Moin Khan (wkt), Wasim Akram (capt), Waqar Younis, Mohammad Akram, Mushtaq Ahmed.