October 18, 2007	Thursday	Shawwal 5, 1428

LAHORE, Oct 17: Banking on contrasting recent achievements, Pakistan skipper Shoaib Malik and South Africa’s captain Graeme Smith have pledged competitive cricket in the five-match One-day International series, starting at the Gaddafi Stadium from Thursday.

While the visitors have won the two-Test series 1-0 against Pakistan, the home side had a memorable achievement of playing the final of the first Twenty20 World Championship last month.

“We have played some very encouraging cricket in last 20 days and the Test-series win has a positive impact on our minds, helping us to do better in one-day games,” Smith said in a press conference on Wednesday.

“Malik’s men though lost the Test series, their good achievement in the Twenty20 Championship must be helping them in giving us a tough time,” Smith said.

Shoaib Malik was optimistic that his side would try their best to win the ODI series.

“We are switching to one-day cricket after almost five-months and during this course we played good Twenty20 cricket and off-shore series against Sri Lanka. Every player is professional and realizes his responsibilities. Hopefully they will give their 100 per cent to win the series,” Shoaib hoped.

Both the teams are facing injury problems. One of Pakistan’s key bowlers Mohammad Asif injured in the second Test and has pain in elbow, whereas Proteas’ medium-pacer Veronum Philander is suffering from hamstring and can miss the first one-dayer.

Another South African medium-pacer, Andre Nel, though facing some problem in knee, would be available for the match, since it is not serious.

Smith ruled out dew factor in the evening session, but it could force the two captains to think about importance of the toss.

“The early start of the match means it will get over before fall of the dew, therefore, it will have no effect on result of the match,” Smith said.

About the dew factor and whether Pakistan would bat first, Malik said he would give his comments after seeing the pitch.

“I have not seen the wicket, and the decision to bat first to avoid the dew factor will be taken after examining the strip,” Malik said.

Pakistan skipper said his team was improving fast as it played better cricket in the second Test after losing the first. He expressed hope that his men would win the ODI series with more consistency.

Shoaib added that his strength was in a good number of talented all-rounders who would play an important role.

“Our team is balanced and the key players are in good form which is a good sign,” Malik said.

The skipper played down South Africa’s overwhelming victory by 176 runs in the warm-up match against PCB XI, saying the visitors were playing against players of U-19 calibre.

South African skipper, however, praised the effort of his side in the warm-up game.

He admitted that Pakistan had some good batsmen like Mohammad Yousuf and Younis Khan but added that his side also had services of some very dangerous batsmen to give Pakistan bowlers tough time.

He said though his team had gained confidence from the victory in the Test series, it had to face a new challenge in one-day games.

“Both the teams are looking young with some new players and we will try to be consistent to give better results,” he said.

The wicket of the Gaddafi Stadium for the first ODI looks flat which will help the batsmen dominate bowlers and post a big total.

Pakistan are likely to go with three fast bowlers namely Umar Gul, Rao Iftikhar and Sohail Tanvir. While Shoaib Malik, Shahid Afridi and Mohammad Hafeez could strengthen the batting and spin-bowling attack.

Hafeez’s chances to open the innings with Imran Nazir are bright as Salman Butt seems to have lost the confidence of the team management after criticising umpires’ decisions in the Test series. Hafeez could also bowl off-spinners in case Malik would not be able to do so due to his nagging shoulder pain.

A good number of spectators are likely to turn up at the stadium to add colours to their Eid celebrations.

The match starts at 11am.

Teams (from):

Pakistan: Shoaib Malik (captain), Mohammad Hafeez, Salman Butt, Younis Khan, Mohammad Yousuf, Misbah-ul-Haq, Kamran Akmal, Shahid Afridi, Umar Gul, Sohail Tanvir, Mohammad Asif, Yasir Hameed, Imran Nazir, Rao Iftikhar Anjum, Abdur Rehman.

South Africa: GC Smith (captain), AB de Villiers, HH Gibbs, JH Kallis, JM Kemp, MV Boucher, SM Pollock, JA Morkel, A Nel, M Ntini, J Botha, JP Duminy, CK Langeveldt.