Malik In as Australia Opt to Bat Against Pakistan

Leeds: Australia captain Ricky Ponting won the toss and elected to bat against Pakistan in the second and final Test at Headingley on Wednesday.

Pakistan made one change from the side that lost the first Test by 150 runs at Lord's last week in what was opener Salman Butt's first match as captain.

Former captain Shoaib Malik, a batting all-rounder, was recalled after Shahid Afridi, who led Pakistan at Lord's, announced his retirement from Tests soon after the series opener and then saw his plan to bow out of the five-day format at Headingley scuppered by a side strain.

Malik hit a fifty in his last Test against Australia at Hobart in January.

But in March, he was among the seven top players who were banned and fined for disciplinary reasons by the Pakistan Cricket Board.

Australia were unchanged after both pace bowler Ben Hilfenhaus, who injured his shoulder fielding at Lord's, and Marcus North, who missed training earlier in the week with illness after taking a career-best six wickets for 55 runs in the first Test.

Ricky Ponting's men were bidding for an eighth Test win in a row and looking to extend their record run of successive victories over Pakistan to 14.

This match was also South African Rudi Koertzen's last as an international umpire.

Teams

Pakistan: Salman Butt (captain), Imran Farhat, Azhar Ali, Umar Amin, Umar Akmal, Shoaib Malik, Kamran Akmal (wkt), Mohammad Aamer, Umar Gul, Danish Kaneria, Mohammad Asif

Australia: Shane Watson, Simon Katich, Ricky Ponting (captain), Michael Clarke, Michael Hussey, Marcus North, Tim Paine (wkt), Steven Smith, Mitchell Johnson, Ben Hilfenhaus, Doug Bollinger

Scores	Upcoming	Results
West Indies vs Bangladesh - 3rd T20I Zimbabwe vs Afghanistan - 2nd ODI South Africa vs Pakistan - 2nd ODI 3rd ODI - Zimbabwe v Afghanistan - December 21, 07:30 GMT 3rd ODI - South Africa v Pakistan - December 22, 12:00 GMT 3rd Test - Australia v India at Brisbane Match drawn 2nd T20I - West Indies v Bangladesh at St Vincent Bangladesh won by 27 runs

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