Alec Stewart arrived with his England team in the tropics to face Queensland in what promises to be the toughest match of the tour so far, with no first-class runs in his locker but with an overwhelming belief in his own ability.
After scoring some jaunty, crowd-pleasing runs at Lilac Hill the captain missed the Western Australia match with a back strain, returning against South Australia to make only the second "pair" of his career and his first for England.
Stewart is not one to be daunted, however. "It's two innings, that's all," he insisted. "It happens. If I don't get any runs in the next two innings then it would be a dent to the confidence."
With the first Test beginning in Brisbane tomorrow week, England will want to field as close to the prospective Test side as possible. However they will be mindful of any cover that might be necessary given that the first and second Tests are back to back with no match in between. All four main seamers will probably play together as they did in Perth, with Darren Gough and Alan Mullally returning to join Angus Fraser and Dominic Cork.
The bulk of the batting side will be in action too, probably minus Graham Thorpe in order to allow his back to settle down after his double century on Tuesday, and possibly without Mark Ramprakash. Only if Alex Tudor, whom Stewart named in dispatches after the Adelaide match, is considered a possibility for Perth will the pace quartet be broken, with Fraser the most likely to be put in cotton wool.
With Ben Hollioake's groin injury improving all the time, England's strategy for the opening Test looks like being one of batting depth, John Crawley joining the six who played in Adelaide, with four seamers and no spinner. However, a case could be made for the inclusion of a spinner here. Should Stewart not be fit to keep wicket for any reason then the job would fall to Crawley because Warren Hegg, concerned about the late arrival of his child, has returned briefly to England. He will be back in time for the Test.
England will face a Queensland side captained by Ian Healy, coached by John Buchanan, who trained Middlesex last season only to lose his job at the end, and containing no fewer than eight internationals, five of them Test cricketers. "No problem," retorted Stewart, "we'll have 11."
Queensland's batting is strong, with Matthew Hayden, Stuart Law and Andrew Symonds familiar county cricket figures. The seam bowling also has an international feel to it, with Michael Kasprowicz - a possibility for the first Test - playing alongside Andy Bichel, who made the last tour to England but had to return home with an injury, and the swing bowler Adam Dale.
Former Pakistan captain Imran Khan told a judicial inquiry yesterday that some players took bribes to throw the matches.
"I am sure some Pakistani players were involved in the betting," Imran testified.
He recalled a match played in Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates in 1989 when several Pakistani players had taken money to throw the match. To prevent his team losing, Imran said he took all of Pakistan's previous earnings in the tournament and bet that amount on his team to win.
The judicial inquiry, being held in the Punjab capital of Lahore, is investigating allegations that senior Pakistani players, including Wasim Akram and Salim Malik, participated in match fixing.
The inquiry stems from allegations made by Australian cricketers, as well as some of Pakistan's own team members.
