Battling batsman Nic Maddinson was given a relief for the second Test  against Pakistan, with Australia set to take an unaltered side into the  match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground beginning on Monday. There had been a theory that Maddinson, who has scored 0, 1 and 4 keep  running in three innings, could be dropped for uncapped allrounder Hilton  Cartwright, however, chief Steve Smith said Sunday that selectors picked to  remain with the group that beat Pakistan in the primary Test in Brisbane by  39 runs.

"(Nic) hasn't begun the way he would have enjoyed," Smith said after a  Christmas morning instructional meeting. "I was truly pleased with him in  the second innings in Brisbane to turn out and do the thing for the group  and attempt and score snappy runs and have a split. We brought the  allrounder into the squad on the grounds that the bowlers had a truly  substantial workload, however, they've pulled up well."   Pakistan commander Misbah ul-Haq would not state Sunday whether Pakistan  would roll out improvements but rather said pace bowler Mohammad Amir had  pulled up well from knee and thigh wounds in Brisbane.

"The folks are casual and sure that they can perform well here," Misbah  said. "You can see that everyone's investing a great deal of energy in the  nets, chipping away at the nuts and bolts." Security has been expanded at  the MCG, where a horde of 60,000 is normal on Monday, taking after the  capture of seven individuals over a dread related plot in the city.

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