JOHANNESBURG, Jan 3: Former South Africa coach Bob Woolmer will seek to put his knowledge of local players and conditions to good use on Pakistan's tour of South Africa which starts this week.

Woolmer, who has coached Pakistan since 2004, was coach of South Africa between 1994 and 1999 and still has a home in Cape Town, where he has been on holiday prior to joining up with his new charges.

Pakistan have moved up to third place in both the Test and one-day rankings since Woolmer took over and have a solid recent record.

Since being beaten 3-0 by Australia in 2004-05 soon after Woolmer's appointment, they have lost only Test series, in England last year, and have defeated England at home, India, Sri Lanka and the West Indies.

Pakistan will play three Tests in South Africa, followed by a Twenty20 international and five One-day Internationals.

The one-day games will be the last for both teams before the World Cup in the West Indies in March and April.

The Pakistan Test squad includes fast bowler Mohammad Asif, whose one-year ban for taking steroids was overturned by an internal appeal committee, despite the decision being challenged by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), who have lodged an appeal.The International Cricket Council (ICC) supported the WADA appeal and affirmed its support of the world drugs body's code.

Cricket South Africa (CSA) spokesman Gordon Templeton said no objections had been raised by CSA to the inclusion of Asif or that of Shoaib Akhtar, whose two-year ban for the same offence was also overturned by the Pakistani tribunal.

Templeton said Shoaib was on the list of reserves submitted by the Pakistan Cricket Board and was in the preliminary one-day squad.

“Cricket SA has not commented on the issue. We have left that up to the ICC,” said Templeton.

Asif joins a capable pace attack, which includes Umar Gul, Shahid Nazir, Mohammad Sami and Rana Naved-ul-Hasan.

Pakistan's major strength, though, could be in their middle order batting where Younis Khan, Mohammad Yousuf and Inzamam-ul-Haq have provided a solid foundation for their team to make big totals.

Pakistan, who beat the West Indies 2-0 in Tests and 3-1 in One-day Internationals at home in November and December, were scheduled to arrive on Wednesday while South Africa are completing a three-Test series against India.

They start their tour with a three-day match against the Rest of South Africa in Kimberley on Saturday.

The Rest team includes Test players Boeta Dippenaar, Paul Adams and Johan Botha.

Off-spinner Botha will be making his first appearance against international opposition since his bowling action was cleared following a ban for having an illegal action imposed early last year.

Pakistan squad: Inzamam-ul-Haq (captain), Mohammad Hafeez, Imran Farhat, Yasir Hameed, Shoaib Malik, Younis Khan, Mohammad Yousuf, Asim Kamal, Faisal Iqbal, Kamran Akmal, Zulqarnain Haider, Shahid Nazir, Umar Gul, Mohammad Asif, Mohammad Sami, Danish Kaneria, Rana Naved-ul-Hasan.

Rest of South Africa: Morne van Wyk (captain), Boeta Dippenaar, Gulam Bodi, Jean Paul Duminy, Arno Jacobs, Vaughn van Jaarsveld, Albie Morkel, Johan Botha, Paul Adams, Garnett Kruger, Yusuf Abdullah.

Itinerary:

Jan 6-8: Rest of South Africa (Kimberley).

Jan 11-15: First Test (Centurion).

Jan 19-23: Second Test (Port Elizabeth).

Jan 26-30: Third Test (Cape Town).

Feb 2: Twenty20 International (Johannesburg, D/N).

Feb 4: First One-day International (Centurion).

Feb 7: Second One-day International (Durban, D/N).

Feb 9: Third One-day International (Port Elizabeth, D/N).

Feb 11: Fourth One-day International (Cape Town).

Feb 14: Fifth One-day International (Johannesburg, D/N).—AFP