England beat India by 2 runs in fifth ODI

New Delhi, January 31: South Africa's veteran fast bowler Allan Donald is primed to produce a special performance in Friday's vital tri-nations series one-day cricket match against New Zealand here, Proteas' captain Shaun Pollock predicted Thursday.

Pollock said his long-time teammate, who struggled in two matches he played in the recent three-Test series against Australia, would enjoy the bounce of the WACA Ground pitch, considered the most helpful in Australia for bowlers of genuine pace.

South Africa did not play a Test in Perth this summer. Donald played in the Tests in Melbourne and Sydney, where he had limited success, finishing the series with four wickets at an average of almost 60.

Donald, 35, has picked up six wickets at 21.83 at just over four runs an over from his three matches in the limited-overs contest.

The Proteas have won each of the games in which Donald has played.

He has missed three games because of a finger injury on his right hand.

"Allan has quite a bit of cricket under his belt now," Pollock said. "He's firing on all cylinders and raring to go .. and I'm sure you'll see a fine performance from him."

But Pollock was not sure whether he would hand Donald the new ball in front of the hard-working Makhaya Ntini.

"It is nice to have Allan in the middle period with his experience," Pollock said.

"But you never know, he might come with the new ball again."

In one-day cricket, Donald generally prefers to take the ball when it has lost some of its early shine.

New Zealand, the pacesetters in the contest, will reach the final if they win Friday.

South Africa will qualify for next week's showdown if they win and capture a bonus point as well.

If South Africa lose Friday, they will have a second chance Sunday to make the last two.

They would have to beat Australia, reigning World Cup one-day champions, Sunday in the last of the 12 games in the three-week qualifying series.