Scotland warned of short-pitched attack

Scotland have been warned to expect a barrage of short balls when they take on Australia in Hobart tomorrow.

The winless Scots are rank outsiders for the match against the Australians, who are looking to secure second spot in Pool B ahead of their quarter-final in Adelaide next weekend.

The home side have recalled paceman Patrick Cummins in place of spinner Xavier Doherty, meaning they will boast a pace attack featuring three bowlers capable of bowling 150km/h.

And wicketkeeper Brad Haddin has warned the Associate nation that the trio of Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Johnson and Cummins have been practicing their short balls at training this week.

"These days we have a lot of computer analysts and everyone analyses the game and one thing we haven't been bowling that well is the bouncer," Haddin told SEN on Friday morning.

"So yesterday the bowlers were given the mantra to go out and practice their bouncers in the nets.

"The lesser countries that do come into the tournament, I think they've done an outstanding job but the one thing you do notice when you play them is the extra pace does worry them a lot.

"And I think that's the one big advantage we're going to have tomorrow.

"So I think we'll practice them again. 

"They (Scotland) would be nervous. I think there's no other way to say it."

Australia's fast-bowlers used the short-ball method to good effect against Associates Afghanistan in Perth 10 days ago, with Johnson and Josh Hazlewood picking up two wickets each with deliveries that were short of a length.

While the Australian batsmen got some practice against the short ball in the nets on Thursday, skipper Michael Clarke missed the net session as he continued to manage his recovery between matches.

Clarke did little more than walk laps of Blundstone Arena, and Haddin cheekily suggested the skipper had got off lightly while his teammates faced down Starc, Johnson, Cummins and Hazlewood in the nets.

"He's just a lot older than the rest of us," Haddin joked.

"He needs an extra recovery day. He'll be batting and bowling today. 

"Yesterday the bowlers were doing a lot of bouncers ... so Michael pulled the old card and said 'I need to do a recovery walk and run and yoga', or something like that. I wasn't really listening."