Alam hopes spinners will trouble Australia

Pakistan coach Intikhab Alam is confident his spinners will cause problems for Australia's batsmen, who have struggled against slow bowlers in the ongoing ODI series in South Africa, during the five-match series in Dubai and Abu Dhabi beginning on April 22.

Australia were unable to counter offspinner Johan Botha effectively in both the home and away legs of the ODI series against South Africa and they also struggled against Roelof van der Merwe, who took 3 for 37 with his left-arm spin in the third ODI in Cape Townon Thursday.

"I am pleased to see the Australians lost wickets against spinners and we too have three quality spinners. If the wickets assist slow bowlers we have a good chance," Alam told AFP. "It all depends on the response from the pitch, but we can have more than one spinner in every match and get wickets.

"The ground in Dubai is new, so we will have to check, and there is also the dew factor in the evening. Although there are plans to use chemicals to counter the dew during the innings break, we have to see how it works out during our practice match."

Pakistan have three spinners in their 15-man squad - the specialist offspinner Saeed Ajmal, and allrounders Shoaib Malik and Shahid Afridi. The Pakistan squad is currently attending a three-day camp before leaving for Dubai on Sunday.