West Indies meet Australia in the first of five One-Day Internationals today (Saturday night, Eastern Caribbean time) at the MCG.
“We’ve got a pretty good idea on what we need to do,” Ponting said.
“We know the lines and lengths and areas that we want to bowl to him, so we’ll be trying to put him under as much pressure as we can early on and hopefully take our chances if they come.”
Gayle plundered centuries in the second and third Tests in Adelaide and Perth respectively, though West Indies lost the three-match series 2-0.
He carried his bat for 165 in the drawn second Test before hammering a breathtaking 102 in the final match West Indies lost by 35 runs.
Ponting said Australia were very aware of the danger once Gayle got going but said they had also formulated alternative plans to limit the Windies captain.
“Once he gets off to a good start and starts hitting the ball cleanly he’s pretty hard to stop, so we have to have a number of different plans to fall back on if the first one doesn’t work,” Ponting said.
Australia enter the series in tremendous form after a whitewash of Pakistan in the five-match ODI series which ended last Sunday. The hosts also ensured a clean sweep of the tour by winning the line Twenty20 International on Friday.
