Coach Arthur gratified by reserve strength and depth of SA

Johannesburg, July 5 (UNI) Even after losing the ODI series against India, Proteas coach Mickey Arthur is gratified over South Africa's strength and depth in reserve players.

After returning from the tour to Belfast, where they beat hosts Ireland in a one-off ODI but lost two-one to India in a three match series, Arthur said he was very happy with the way the largely experimental team had played.

''It's always disappointing to lose a series - we always aim to win every series we play,'' he said adding, ''We have always dominated India away from the sub-continent, but they got away this time. But in fairness, we were in the middle of our rest period, and a lot of the players had difficulty getting into action because they hadn't played since the World Cup.'' ''But on the other hand, this tour gave us an indication of the strength we have in reserve, and that was very gratifying.'' Talking about the individual performances, he said, ''Vernon Philander is an exciting player, and he will definitely have a role to play in the future. Unfortunately, Dale Steyn was ill, and so wasn't able to play at his best, but he will also have an important role in the future of South African cricket.'' ''Thandi (Tshabalala) played nicely, and Morne van Wyk, who came in as cover for Graeme Smith, who is recovering from surgery, will definitely put some pressure on the top-order batsmen. JP Duminy also gave us some idea of the superb cricket he is capable of.'' He also said the experiments will continue on tour to Zimbabwe in August, giving opportunities to new players to show what they could do.

''We have to select five teams at the end of July. There is the South Africa A side to play four-day tests against Zimbabwe, then the ODI team to play Zimbabwe, the team for the Twenty/20 World Cup, and we also have to choose test and ODI teams to tour Pakistan immediately after the Twenty/20 World Cup. So there will be plenty of opportunities for many players,'' he said.

UNI