Hopes, Hogg in, Haddin, Clark out

PERTH—James Hopes and Brad Hogg will return for Australia’s latest CB Series one-dayer against Sri Lanka in Perth on Friday, meaning Stuart Clark and Brad Haddin will make way. The changes come with Australia looking for extra variety following their loss to India on Sunday.
Hopes, who has recovered from a hamstring injury, offers allround options, while Australia have opted for the spin of Hogg on a benign track over Clark’s seam. Their captain Ricky Ponting recognised Clark was unlucky to miss out, having returned 1 for 26 last match.
“The wicket is very hard and very flat,” Ponting told AAP, “so I think some change of pace with those two guys coming into the side will help us out. I think we will use the other part timers as well, because the quicks out there might just be the easiest bowlers to face.”
The match will be Adam Gilchrist’s last on his home ground, the WACA, and a big send-off is planned, with two huge murals for fans to sign. Australia will hope to use this as a spur.
“It’s a big motivation for us as the series goes on,” Ponting said. “We were disappointed by the way we played in Melbourne the other night so we want to make sure we do the right thing by GIlly as a team and hopefully we can win enough games to make it through to the finals and send him off appropriately.”
Australia, whose only win so far came against Sri Lanka recently, will start favourites as they try to get themselves back into the winning groove. After the first two games were doused by unusual rain, the series is gradually catching fire.
Australia (probable) 1 Matthew Hayden, 2 Adam Gilchrist (wk), 3 Ricky Ponting (capt), 4 Michael Clarke, 5 Andrew Symonds, 6 Michael Hussey, 7 James Hopes, 8 Brett Lee, 9 Brad Hogg, 10 Mitchell Johnson, 11 Nathan Bracken.
Sri Lanka (probable) 1Tillekaratne Dilshan, 2 Sanath Jayasuriya, 3 Kumar Sangakkara (wk), 4 Mahela Jayawardene (capt), 5 Chamara Kapugedera, 6 Chamara Silva, 7 Farveez Maharoof, 8 Chaminda Vaas, 9 Lasith Malinga 10 Ishara Amerasinghe 11 Muttiah Muralitharan.

—Agencies