October 17, 2007	Wednesday	Shawwal 4, 1428

LAHORE, Oct 16: South African cricket coach Mickey Arthur has backed Shaun Pollock as a top-class all-rounder for one-day cricket, saying he was looking forward to see the veteran paceman in action in the ODI series against Pakistan, starting from Thursday in Lahore.

Talking to reporters after his team won a warm-up match by a big margin (176 runs) against the PCB XI squad here on Tuesday, Arthur said Pollock, who was not selected for the two-Test series the Proteas won 1-0, hopefully would be playing in the opener of the five-match series.

Pollock, 34, who was tested in the first match on the ongoing tour, in the warm-up, conceded 38 runs in five overs while spearheading the attack.

However, Arthur wasn’t worried about Pollock’s form he exhibited in the warm-up match, saying the tall pace bowler – a seasoned all-rounder – had given top-class performances on numerous occasions in the past. The warm-up match would help him a lot regain his rhythm, the coach opined. Pollock has so far played 290 ODIs taking 383 wickets.

Commenting on the big win against the PCB XI squad, Arthur expressed his delight, saying it had served the Proteas well to prepare themselves for the ODIs against Pakistan.

While expecting his side to grab the ODI series, Arthur said Boucher and de Villiers must have enjoyed batting (in the warm-up game), adding they were in good position to fare well in the ODIs.

De Villiers, meanwhile, said batting in the warm-up game wasn’t easy and he struggled for every run.

“The batsmen needed patience to play in the game and I did exactly that,” de Villiers, who cracked an unbeaten 113, said.