Lahore, Oct 05: Batsman Morne Van Wyk will replace injured Herschelle Gibbs for the remainder of South Africa`s one-day international cricket series in Pakistan, South African officials said today. Gibbs missed the first game of the five-match series Friday due to a muscle condition called delayed onset muscle soreness. The experienced batsman was also ruled out of the second game today after failing to pass the fitness test.

Neil Mckenzie also suffered a back spasm while batting for South Africa on Friday. "We do have a few injury worries with Herschelle (Gibbs) and Neil (Mckenzie)... Severe heat and humidity also took its toll on Friday when Graeme Smith and Boeta Dippenaar suffered from cramps," coach Eric Simons said in a statement.

"Morne will give us more flexibility if we have further injury problems or if we decide to rotate players in the rest of the games," Simons added. Gibbs had recovered from a groin injury before flying to Pakistan last week. He played without discomfort in the warm-up game Wednesday, making 34 runs against Lahore city Nazim XI. However, he took part in some strenuous exercises which led to the Doms condition setting in on Thursday.

Bureau Report