Warne to lead Australia against England on home ground

Waugh's hamstring strain has still not improved enough to enable him to play against an unbeaten England in the tri-series match.

The star leg spinner could hardly have asked for a bigger stage on which to captain Australia, with a crowd of 80,000 expected at his home ground for a match tipped to be played in 37 degree Celsius (99 Fahrenheit) heat.

``It will be great,'' he said when asked Thursday about the milestone. ``I'm enjoying doing the captaincy, I always have, and it brings out the best in you.

``It's great to get the opportunity to do it but I'll be handing it back to Steve when he is ready.''

That should happen on Sunday as Waugh confirmed he would definitely be fit for the clash against England in Sydney.

Waugh said he could have played Friday night but decided to take no chances. ``It's probably a good move because there is a lot of cricket coming up and if I did it again I would be out for a while so I don't mind missing one more game,'' he said.

Australia go into Friday's game revitalised following Wednesday's eight-wicket win over Sri Lanka in Sydney when they successfully chased 260 thanks to a brilliant 131 off 118 balls from opener Adam Gilchrist.

Waugh was delighted with the performance, believing the side had been unfairly criticised for their opening match seven-run loss to England, who lead the tri-series table after winning their first two matches.

``That's the sort of one-day cricket we've been playing for a while,'' Waugh said.

``After the first game a few people jumped to conclusions but this is a good batting side,'' he said.

And that batting line-up will be strengthened Friday night with the return of Darren Lehmann, who missed the first two games with a hamstring injury=2E Lehmann will replace either Greg Blewett or Damien Martyn but his South Australian teammate Brad Young is likely to miss the rest of the series after injuring his ankle colliding with the Sydney Cricket Ground fence Wednesday night.

The Australians have yet to name a squad replacement for Young but are expected to call up Stuart MacGill for the clash in Sydney on Sunday.

An upbeat England trained for nearly three hours at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) on Thursday after having the past two days off.

England are tipped to make one change to their line-up, with batsman Nassar Hussein likely to come in at the expense of an all-rounder, probably Mark Alleyne.

Probable teams:

Australia: Shane Warne (capt), Michael Bevan, Greg Blewett, Adam Dale, Damien Fleming, Adam Gilchrist, Brendon Julian, Darren Lehmann, Glenn McGrath, Ricky Ponting, Mark Waugh

England: Alec Stewart (capt), Robert Croft, Mark Ealham, Neil Fairbrother, Darren Gough, Dean Headley, Graeme Hick, Adam Hollioake, Nasser Hussain, Nick Knight, Alan Mullally