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Australia are vulnerable, says Lara

Brian Lara, the World XI vice-captain, has said that Australia are vulnerable after losing the Ashes to England and could be beaten

Cricinfo staff
03-Oct-2005


Shaun Pollock dismissed claims that the World XI would find it hard to develop team-spirit © Getty Images
Brian Lara, the World XI vice-captain, has said that Australia are vulnerable after losing the Ashes to England and could be beaten in the ICC Super Series beginning on October 5 in Melbourne.
"Most definitely. It's just after England and I think at present they [Australia] are wounded after the Ashes," Lara was quoted as saying by AFP. "We can even things up by applying the pressure from the Rest of the World, because that's who we represent."
Shaun Pollock, the World XI one-day team captain, played down talk that the they would struggle to come together as a team and find motivation. "A lot of people say that our hardest challenge will be to gel as a team, as a unit," said Pollock. "We haven't played together before and some of us have played in the same side, but I don't see that as much of a problem. As professional cricketers we all take our jobs very seriously, we are used to being in different roles and once those roles are identified I don't think we'll see any problems with guys having to do that."
Kevin Pietersen, the English middle-order batsman, said that he was very excited to be involved in the Super Series. "I'm just very happy to be here... if this had been suggested to me six months ago, I would have laughed. This year has been incredible," said Pietersen. "It's the enjoyment factor, coming out here to enjoy ourselves and to pick the brains of the absolute geniuses that are around in the dressing-room, so I'm just thrilled to be a part of it."