Clark expecting tough time

Stuart Clark knows the tour of India will be hard work for the seamers © Getty Images

Buy this photo

Australia seamer Stuart Clark has warned the wickets in India are unlikely to suit fast bowlers ahead of the start of the Test series on Thursday.

Clark picked up two second-innings wickets in the warm-up game against a Board President's XI in Hyderabad, but that game was dominated by the President's XI batsmen, with three of them hitting centuries.

"You don't get a lot of love back from the wicket,” said Clark. "You just have to be patient and bang it in there all day.

"It can be hard work, but you have got to put all that aside. I think Michael Kasprowicz did it well. He got in there and bowled all day and we all know stories about how he lost eight kilograms.

"But I think that's the secret to it. You have just got to do it all day. And guys who have been successful here have done that. You cannot shirk the responsibility."

Clark claimed, though, that the wicket for the first Test in Bangalore was a competitive one.

"The wicket looks like it’s going to be a very good cricket wicket,” he added. "There's a little more grass than I thought there would be on it.

"All in all, I think its going to make for a good Test match."

He added: "I think we would probably go in with a normal attack, one spinner and a couple of guys who part-time bowl spin. I'm not sure which ones those would be at the moment."

Clark feels the team have prepared well in the lead up to the first Test.

He said: "Jaipur was good because we got acclimatised to the conditions. Hyderabad was also good because of the fact that we got to play a competitive game on a wicket that didn't really suit the quicker bowlers.

Clark expects Brett Lee to exploit the conditions and be Australia's main strike bowler with the new ball

Buy this photo

"It's something we really needed to do, to get here and get used to the conditions."

Clark, normally a first-change bowler but who opened alongside Brett Lee in the warm-up match, said he hoped to handle the new ball again and assist Lee with the breakthroughs.

"Lee has that shock value because he really does bowl fast,” he said. "I'll probably do the other sort of stuff where from one end I would try and build it up and get some wickets.

"I guess that would be our ploy no matter where we are playing. I just run in there and do the more consistent stuff and he's the guy who would exploit that.

"I hope I get to take the new ball. That is the way we are going with it at the moment. I enjoy it and it really helps me as a bowler."

Clark claimed the Australia bowlers had, unlike predecessors such as Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne, not singled out individual batsmen to target.

He said: "I think what we are trying to do is not to focus on just a one or a couple of individuals.

"They have some great players in their team and when you focus on one you tend to forget about the other ones.

"Maybe Glenn and Shane found that it worked better for them.

"We've really come here with a group mentality and to target all the batters. We've got to take 20 wickets and try and win the Test match."