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Tuesday, Oct 23, 2007
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Ball change rule is good: Arthur

FAISALABAD: South African coach Mickey Arthur said on Monday the team was confident of bouncing back in the one-day series against Pakistan after losing the second match last week.

“Lifting the team after the loss is not difficult at all and it will not be an issue,” said Arthur ahead of the third match here on Tuesday.

South Africa is level 1-1 with Pakistan in the five-match series.

“We have played really well through the tour, we had a little stutter at Lahore. We have set our team really high standards and need to maintain those standards,” said Arthur whose team won the earlier Test series 1-0.

Ball-change rules

South Africa coach Mickey Arthur has said that the compulsory ball change rule will help batsmen score at a good rate in the slog overs.

“Definitely, the scores in the last 10 overs will be bigger as the ball is a lot harder and goes off the bat quicker,” Arthur said. “The ball is not reversing as much as it used to and runs are going to be plentiful at the back end.”

The International Cricket Council has made it mandatory that the ball will be changed after 34 overs in all 50-overs-a-side internationals.

Arthur felt that the new ruling is good for the game because every team now knows when the ball is going to be changed.

“By making it a compulsory change, it’s quite good because it takes out the uncertainty (on when the ball is going to be changed),” Arthur said.

The Pakistan batsmen capitalised on the new ruling when they scored 78 runs in the last 10 overs during the second match at Lahore on Saturday and won the match by 25 runs to level the series 1-1.

The South African coach did not expect too many changes in his team for the third game, despite losing the second game.

“We had a little stutter at Lahore but we have set ourselves extremely high goals throughout this competition,” Arthur said. “I don’t foresee too many changes.”

South Africa has used medium-fast bowler Albie Morkel in the latter part of the innings, but Arthur said it was a “lottery” for the bowlers to perform well in the slog overs.

“We have specialists who do it for us, Langeveldt has done it for a couple of years now and we’re looking for Albie Morkel to do it more for us,” said Arthur.

Pakistan captain Shoaib Malik, who has recovered from cramps, hoped his team would put in a good performance after dropping at least five catches in the second game.

Latif for Hafeez

Pakistan struggled to get good opening stands in the first two matches. The home team has dropped opening batsman Mohammad Hafeez, who played in the first match and scored just six runs, and brought uncapped 21-year-old Khalid Latif into the 15-man squad.

Meanwhile, fast bowler Mohammad Asif, who missed the first two games due to elbow injury, has been ruled out for the third one dayer. — AP

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