West Indian skipper Brian Lara warned his team to look to the future rather than the past when they take on Australia in the opening tri-series limited-overs match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Friday.

Lara said the Windies should avoid dwelling on their surprise win in the ICC Champions Trophy in England last September if they wanted to upset the world title-holders.

"We've got to put that behind us," Lara said here Thursday.

"I'm almost sure that Australia is not living on their past and we can't as well.

"We are going to be working hard to get on top early and stay on top and win the game."

Lara, who made a brilliant hundred in the West Indies' only victory in their three warm-up games against Victoria and Australia A, also paid tribute to new coach, Australian Bennett King.

"It's good to have young players, having their talent and ability to work hard," he said.

"We have a new coaching staff which is getting the work ethic up.

"It's an exciting time, not just for me, but for West Indies cricket."

The Australians were still tinkering with their final batting line-up Thursday, although it now seems likely that young up-and-comer Michael Clarke will open.

Clarke had been suffering from a mystery foot injury but passed a fitness test on Thursday and may now take the place of regular opener Matthew Hayden, who is being rested.

But a lingering virus is likely to rule out fellow batsman Simon Katich, who was originally drafted to take over Hayden's role.

If Katich does not play, either Clarke or Damien Martyn will open with run-scoring machine Adam Gilchrist.

"Clarke wants to open and he's done it before -- he got a hundred in Zimbabwe doing that so we've got a couple of options there," Australian captain Ricky Ponting said.

"Damien's also done extremely well when he's had a chance to open before.

"(But) Clarke has probably got his nose in front for the opening role.

"It's good to have Martyn and (Darren) Lehmann and those guys in the middle order.

"If we get into early trouble they can shore things up and bat for long periods of time."

Katich will undergo a fitness test on Friday.

But Ponting said he could be rested anyway, as Australia only has a one-day break before taking on Pakistan, the third team in the competition, in Hobart on Sunday.

"With the sort of illness he's got it might just knock the wind out of his sails for game two if he happens to play the first game," Ponting said.

"If we think he's fit enough to play he'll be given a chance."

The selectors have decided against adding an extra batsman to the squad, believing they have sufficient depth.

"If Katich doesn't come up, (allrounders Shane) Watson and (Brad) Hogg can both play in the same side," said Ponting.

"Watto's (Watson's) batting has improved for him almost to play as a specialist batsman in the one-day game anyway."

One of the four Australian pacemen is set to carry the drinks.

Australia are short-priced favourite to win the series, but Ponting said the West Indies showed their one-day credentials by winning the last three matches of the most recent seven-game series between the sides two years ago in the Caribbean.

TEAMS
AUSTRALIA (from): Ricky Ponting (c), Adam Gilchrist, Michael Clarke, Jason Gillespie, Brad Hogg, Michael Kasprowicz, Simon Katich, Shane Watson, Brett Lee, Darren Lehmann, Damien Martyn, Glenn McGrath, Andrew Symonds.

WEST INDIES (from): Brian Lara (c), Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Chris Gayle, Wavell Hinds, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Marlon Samuels, Dwayne Bravo, Courtney Browne, Ian Bradshaw, Pedro Collins, Mervyn Dillon, Reon King, Ricardo Powell, Xavier Marshall.