Big boots for Ponting to fill

Last Friday in Durban, Steve Waugh and Mark Boucher went out at Kingsmead for the toss at the start of the third Test. Just a week later, as the Standard Bank One-Day International Series gets underway at the Wanderers, a different pair of faces will watch the spin of the coin. Ricky Ponting takes over from Waugh as Australia's now one-day captain, while Shaun Pollock returns after missing the Test series through injury.

"They certainly are big shoes to fill," acknowledged Ponting on Thursday. "Not having Steven or Mark around the side's going to be different, but I think we've covered those guys pretty well. We've got a couple of young guys who'd added a bit different to the squad. We've trained well and I'm looking forward to tomorrow."

Pollock missed the Test matches with a strained muscle in his side. He says he can bowl freely now and, given the fact that he only has to get through 10 overs in each match, isn't expecting any ill-effects. But, he says, it wasn't easy sitting on the sidelines.

"It was very frustrating," he said after South African complete their preparations at the Wanderers. "A big series only comes along once in a while. It's hard not playing. As a player who's been part of the set-up you'd love to be out there helping the guys. It's difficult to offer advice off the field. You can only contribute in a certain way. I tried my best in the games to help out, but it's much easier to be out there yourself."

Both captains were understandably wary of drawing too much from the recent contests between the two teams. Australia have beaten South Africa 5-1 in Test matches this summer, but failed to reach the final of the VB Series in Australia, despite holding a 3-1 edge over South Africa in their head-to-head meetings.

"We played badly against New Zealand (in Australia)," conceded Ponting. "We didn't play that badly against South Africa. Overall we played OK over there without setting the world on fire, but by our standards we played a fair way below them. We've got a fiar bit of improvement to do."

Pollock said he felt it might take Ponting a while to settle into his new role, "but he's got a lot of experienced players around him. I think he'll turn to those players and they'll help him through. One-day cricket's the easier form of the game to captain".

Neither captain was giving too much away by way of strategy ahead of the first of seven meetings, but Ponting said that with Mark Waugh missing Matthew Hayden was likely to get an extended run as Adam Gilchrist's opening partner, and that for the first few games, at least, Australia would probably be fielding their strongest combination.

South Africa, meanwhile, are having to do without Allan Donald at the moment which is likely to mean only one change from the side that played in the VB Series finals with Roger Telemachus replacing Donald.

And while Pollock admitted that it had taken some time to fathom out what was going wrong in the Test matches, the shortened form of the game was easier to read. "We know what to expect," he said. "In one-day games you're always trying to adapt and lead from the front. We've got a few ideas, which I'll keep to myself for the moment, but we'll be trying to lead from the front."