Australian batsmen prepare to face a tough series against Pakistan

Melbourne, Dec 24(ANI): Australian batsmen have said that they expect the Pakistan team to put up good fight in the three-Test series starting on Boxing Day.

Though Pakistan has not played a Test here in last five years and without a series win in the game's traditional form since beating West Indies in late 2006, Australian middle-order batsman Mike Hussey believes that the team is tough enough to be a threat to the Ricky Ponting-led team.

"I think it's going to be a really tough series. They've got a lot of match-winners, and a lot of very dangerous players, particularly bowlers. I think they've got an outstanding team, their attack is going to be very challenging for all our batsmen," The Sydney Morning Herald quoted Hussey, as saying.

Opener Simon Katich said that Australia's bowlers would also have to toil hard to breakthrough a top order anchored by captain Mohammad Yousuf and youngter like Umar Akmal, who made a century on debut in New Zealand last month.

"They've got some exciting young players, both batsmen and bowlers. Having had a look at the footage, we expect it to be a tough challenge, particularly from a batting point of view," Katich said.

Meanwhile, wicketkeeper Brad Haddin said: "As we've seen in the tour game [against Tasmania], they've got some batters in form and a pretty strong bowling attack. It's always exciting, Boxing Day, but playing against Pakistan makes it even more so because they're so unpredictable." (ANI)