BRISBANE, Australia - With Australia already surging to the top of the standings and showing few signs of vulnerability, the three preliminary encounters between the West Indies and Pakistan are shaping up as the really interesting contests in the quest for a place in the best-of-three finals of the VB Series. The first of those three duels is on Wednesday (Tuesday night Caribbean time), and on the evidence of the respective fixtures against the hosts at the weekend, the Caribbean side must improve significantly to kick-start their campaign to claim the tri-nations title Down Under for the first time in 12 years. Australia trounced the West Indies by 116 runs in the tournament opener on Friday in Melbourne, and then survived a couple anxious moments before overcoming Pakistan in Hobart on Sunday by four wickets in a rain-affected match that necessitated the Duckworth/Lewis calculations coming into play. That complicated system could very well be employed again on Wednesday as midday and early afternoon showers are forecast for Brisbane, a city in the north-eastern state of Queensland that enjoys a steamy, tropical climate very similar to that experienced in Guyana and Trinidad. Indeed, many of the West Indian players have already commented on how much they are enjoying the change compared to fluctuating heat and chill of Melbourne and the bitter cold of Hobart. Yet whatever the conditions, Brian Lara's men need little reminding that their showing at the Melbourne Cricket Ground against the might of Australia was sub-standard. Another poor showing from their bowlers and the top order of the batting could leave them with too much to do in the remaining preliminary matches to get into the finals, particularly as a full-strength Australian line-up - with Matthew Hayden, Adam Gilchrist and Jason Gillespie - is assembling for Friday's sold-out day/night clash with the West Indies, also at The Gabba. 'STILL CONFIDENT' "We're still confident," said vice-captain Shivnarine Chanderpaul after his team's morning workout at The Gabba on Monday. "Our top order didn't do very well in Melbourne, so this will be their opportunity to get in and get some runs. We've been doing a lot of work and the guys are very keen to go out there and win this game." Chris Gayle, touted as a potential headliner in the Australian media for this tournament, is expected to play despite damaging ligaments in his right shoulder while fielding on Friday at the MCG. The injury could however rule him out as a bowler and place an even greater burden on the frontline pacers to effect early breakthroughs, or at least a measure of control. Mervyn Dillon could achieve neither in being belted for 69 runs off eight overs, and with left-arm seamer Pedro Collins fully recovered from a thigh strain, the Trinidadian pacer seems doomed to be dropped for yet another occasion in his chequered international career. Having been given more time to recover from the long journey to Australia to replace the injured Ryan Hinds, Ricardo Powell is now fully into the swing of things at practice and could force his way into the final 11, although it will be extremely harsh on Xavier Marshall if he is the one to be left out. The 18-year-old was literally thrown in at the deep end on Friday night as he strode to the crease on his international debut to face a rampant Brett Lee with the West Indies innings in ruins at 21 for three. He scored just five, but could hardly be singled out in that regard for six others failed to get into double-figures while only Lara (58) and Chanderpaul (46) offered any meaningful resistance. MAN FOR PAKISTAN Unsettled by the speed and hostility of Lee in Melbourne, Shoaib Akhtar is being trumpeted as the man for Pakistan to inflict similar damage to the West Indies top order in Brisbane. The "Rawalpindi Express" was off the rails for most of his spell in Hobart on Sunday, conceding 54 runs in eight wicketless overs, but the Caribbean players do not need reminding of his potential destructiveness. "Shoaib is an attacking bowler. He's going to come to get wickets," Chanderpaul acknowledged. "But it depends on us getting a good start. I'm lower down in the order, so it depends on the mindset of the openers as to how they deal with him." In the last meeting of the two teams, in the semi-final of the ICC Champions' Trophy in England last September, Akhtar struck Lara a painful blow on the neck but could have little impact where it really mattered as the West Indies strolled to victory at the Rose Bowl in Southampton on the way to a thrilling two-wicket victory over the hosts in the final at The Oval in London. CAVE IN UNDER PRESSURE The tendency of Pakistan's batting to cave in under pressure was evident then, and the strategy of head coach Bennett King will certainly centre on maintaining discipline when bowling and in the field in the hope of triggering a similar slide. But the other side of that unpredictability reveals sublime talents and the potential for real destruction. Left-handed opener Salman Butt has emerged as one of the few positives on Pakistan's tour here, while the experience of skipper Inzamam-ul-Haq and vice-captain Yousuf Youhanna almost exactly mirror the roles played by Lara and Chanderpaul in the West Indies line-up. And just as Gayle is hailed as the unpredictable batting terminator, Pakistan's equivalent, Shahid Afridi, showed what he is capable of in smashing four sixes and four fours on the way to a 26-ball unbeaten 56 at Bellerive Oval two days ago. Pakistan are likely to make one change to their squad with the experienced and attacking Younis Khan tipped to bolster their top order at the expense of Mohammad Hafeez. Given the talent and unpredictability of the two teams, forecasting a winner in this critical duel is as challenging as predicting how the weather will behave on any given day in this part of the world. TEAMS: West Indies (probable) - Brian Lara (captain), Chris Gayle, Wavell Hinds, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Marlon Samuels, Ricardo Powell, Dwayne Bravo, Courtney Browne, Ian Bradshaw, Pedro Collins. Pakistan (probable) - Inzamam-ul-Haq (captain), Salman Butt, Kamran Akmal, Younis Khan, Shoaib Malik, Yousuf Youhanna, Abdul Razzaq, Shahid Afridi, Azhar Mahmood, Shoaib Akhtar, Naved-ul-Hassan Rana. Reprinted from windiescricket.com