Nielsen declares Marcus North safe, for now

Marcus North is not in danger of losing his place for this week's Hobart Test but Simon Katich's position in the team won't be clear until after training on Monday afternoon. Katich is battling an elbow injury that he sustained during the Boxing Day Test and the coach Tim Nielsen said Australia remained unsure of Katich's prospects.

He missed the Sydney victory and is hoping to be fit for the final Test of the summer, against Pakistan at Bellerive Oval starting on Thursday. Phillip Hughes remains on standby for Katich, who will bat properly for the first time in the nets in Hobart on Monday.

"While he's probably had a few throwdowns and picked up a bat, he was still tender at the end of the Test match in Sydney," Nielsen said in the Australian. "We've tried to give him as long as we could to prove his fitness. Our first run-around [on Monday] will give him a pretty clear indication of whether he is right to go or not."

Regardless of whether Katich is cleared to play, there is no doubt over the No. 6 North, despite his shaky results this season. In his five Tests at home this summer, North has scored 186 runs at 23.25 and he hasn't passed 10 in his past four innings.

"In this Test match, he's safe," Nielsen said of North. "We'll have Phil there as a standby player for Simon as in Sydney. We must keep in perspective it was only a couple of months ago that Marcus had three centuries in five Tests. He's having a bit of a dip in form at the moment.

"It happens in our game, different players go through rough trots. He's a good player and I'm sure he will perform this week. Probably the major thing is he hasn't been able to get through that difficult period from nought to 20. It's been one of those summers for him, perhaps a little bit like what Michael Hussey went through, and he's come out the other end playing so well."

Australia can complete a 3-0 clean-sweep against Pakistan if they win in Hobart, and such a result would give them five wins from six Tests at home this season. But Nielsen said there were plenty of areas in which the team needed to improve, and certain individuals would be keen to do just that in their last chance for the summer.

"The biggest thing for us is that while we had a tremendous result in Sydney, we certainly didn't play at our best for the four days," Nielsen said. "It's good to go into the last Test match on such a high, but I think there's probably a few guys who feel they could do a little better personally as well. It'd be nice to finish off our Test match summer now with a really complete performance."