England set for Australian spin Test

The Sydney Test will probably be the last Ashes match for Australian captain Mark Taylor and England counter-part Alec Stewart so both will be going flat-out for a farewell win.

Warne, in his first Test in eight months since shoulder surgery, and Macgill, who has emerged gloriously from Warne's shadow in this series, will test England's new-found resolve to the limit to win the match and draw the series on a pitch traditionally friendly to spinners. Sydney has produced an outright result in its last three Tests and Taylor was toying with the idea of three spinners by including seamer-spinner Colin Miller alongside legspinners Warne and MacGill.

That would leave Damien Fleming as 12th man with just one true paceman, Glenn McGrath.

But Taylor said swing master Fleming was likely to play if the sultry weather continued in Sydney where the SCG pitch boasts some grass.

He was confident Warne would shake off the unconvincing form he has shown in Sheffield Shield cricket so far this season since making his comeback.

``I'm sure a few of their blokes will think 'he hasn't played for a while, let's get after him' but I'm sure Warney will enjoy that,'' Taylor said.

``His bowling is fine, I think it's the mental side of the game that he has got to get back into now.

``Warney is the sort of guy that does find that extra bit in his bowling when it comes to Test cricket.''

Taylor was happy to be able to call on Warne and Macgill. ``We would only pick two legspinners if they were the two best spinners in the country and both were bowling well,'' he said. ``They are doing that now so there's no reason we can't do it.''

England have also taken a gamble for their most important Test in more than a decade by summoning unheralded leftarm spinner Ashley Giles in a 13-man squad. Giles, with only one Test behind him, arrived in Australia earlier this week =with England's one-day squad and received a shock call-up to the Test squad.

England dropped batsman Mark Butcher, who made a century in the Ashes opener in Brisbane, and seamer Angus Fraser.

England need to hold their catches and hope for improved batting from Michael Atherton in particular who will be playing his farewell Ashes Test. Atherton has had a poor series by his standards, boasting just 110 runs at a paltry average of 13.75 this series. The series decider is expected to be Atherton's last Test against Australia. Stewart backed Atherton to get among the runs. The veteran opener registered his first pair of ducks in 88 Tests in England's fourth Test victory at the MCG. ``It's disappointing because we generally bat around him,'' Stewart said. ``If he bats all day and gets a six-hour hundred we generally get a total of 300-plus. ``He'll be looking to make sure he finishes off the series well.''

Squads:

Australia: Mark Taylor (capt), Steve Waugh (vice capt), Michael Slater, Justin Langer, Mark Waugh, Darren Lehmann, Ian Healy, Damien Fleming, Shane Warne, Stuart MacGill, Glenn McGrath, Colin Miller (12th man to be named)

England (from): Alec Stewart (capt), Nasser Hussain (vice capt), Michael Atherton, Mark Ramprakash, John Crawley, Graeme Hick, Warren Hegg, Dean Headley, Darren Gough, Alex Tudor, Alan Mullally, Ashley Giles, Peter Such.