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Aussies unsure of Pak tour

Australian paceman Glenn McGrath said that he expected to be bowling at 95 per cent pace or better, in the Commonwealth Games cricket competition next month.

Australia is favuored to qualify for the semifinals from its group, which includes an as yet unnamed Indian lineup, plus Canada and Antigua.

McGrath missed Australia's tour to India with a stomach injury and has played just one low-key limited overs match since the last Australian summer.

But he is keen to get back near his best at the Games, in Kuala Lumpur from September 9, with Australia's tour of Pakistan to follow later in the month.

"The body has held together well,'' McGrath said today.

"I've been training quite well for the last three months. I'm a lot stronger and fitter than I've been in the past, so hopefully that'll make me a lot quicker too.''

He played a match at Lord's recently, for the Diana Memorial charity, and bowled at 75 percent.

"Hopefully I'll now crank it up to 90 or 95 percent, or even full pace,'' he said.

Meanwhile, the 14 Australians picked for this year's Commonwealth Games cricket tournament were re-named to represent their country at this year's ICC sponsored Wills International Cup in Bangladesh.

Steve Waugh was appointed captain, with his twin brother Mark as his deputy for the limited-overs knock-out competition.

The tournament will be held in Bangladesh in October and November, and will be contested by each of the nine Test-playing nations. The Commonwealth Games are being held in Kuala Lumpur in September.

The team: Steve Waugh (captain), Mark Waugh, Michael Bevan, Damien Fleming, Adam Gilchrist, Brendon Julian, Michael Kasprowicz, Darren Lehmann, Damien Martyn , Glenn McGrath, Tom Moody, Ricky Ponting, Gavin Robertson, and Brad Young.

Meanwhile, it was announced that Australia's cricketers will wait until the last minute before deciding whether or not to proceed with their forthcoming tour of Pakistan.

Team manager Steve Bernard said the touring party was concerned about its safety after the United States launched a series of missile attacks at terrorist-related targets in neighbouring Afghanistan last week.

"We're monitoring the situation every day but at this stage it's too early to say either way," Bernard said.

"We've been in contact with the Pakistan Cricket Board and the (Australian) Department of Foreign Affairs and the sensible approach we're taking is just to wait until the last minute rather than make a hasty decision now."

Australia's cricketers are due to arrive in Pakistan on September 23 for an eight-match tour that includes three Tests.

Relations between the two countries have been at a low ebb ever since three Australian players accused former Pakistani batsman Salim Malik of offering them bribes during their 1994 tour of the sub-continent.

Those tensions increased when the Australian government cut military ties and froze non-humanitarian aid to Pakistan after Islamabad conducted a series of nuclear tests in May.

Last month, Pakistan refused a request by the ACB to change the itinerary for the tour because of security concerns about Peshawar in the country's troubled northwest.

When Australia last played in Peshawar, in a limited-overs international against South Africa in 1994, Australia's Shane Warne and South Africa's Daryll Cullinan were struck by missiles thrown from the crowd.

Agencies