Date-stamped : 17 Nov96 - 02:11 16 November 1996 Bowlers Give Woolmer Options Peter Robinson After a day in which South Africa`s fast bowlers made a strong case for a 4 pronged test seam attack, the impending ar- rival of Paul Adams gave coach Bob Woolmer even more food for thought yesterday. The news that Adams is to fly out to India on Monday morning, ar- riving on Tuesday , the day before the first Test begins in Ahmedabad took Woolmer completely by surprise at the end of the first day`s play against a Board President`s XI. "It`s the first I`ve heard of it," said Woolmer. "I haven`t spo- ken to Peter Pollock for about 2 weeks. Perhpas there`ll be a message for me back at the hotel, but I don`t know what to tell you right now." And if Adams` arrival could complicate matters for the Test, so has the bowling of the seam attack yesterday. Fanie de Vil- liers took 5/46 as the BP XI were bowled out for 179 on a pitch which offered a little early assistance to the quick bowlers but flattened out later. Lance Klusener picked up 3/38 to bring his tall from three first class innings to 11 and Brian McMillan chipped in with 2/34. The South African spinners were somewhat less successful. Pat Symcox was the victim of a brutal attack by tailender Salil Anko- la. Nicky Boje, the likely second test spinner, bowled only 3 overs. Describing de Villiers` effort as "fantastic", Woolmer said: "It just goes to show that seamers can take wickets just as easi- ly as spinners in these conditions. If our seamers are taking wickets there`s no reason why they shouldn`t continue to do so." Although it has been generally assumed that South Africa will field an attack consisting of Donald, de Villiers and McMillan, together with Symcox and Boje, Woolmer acknowledged that yesterday`s developments meant "we`ll give a lot of thought to what type of attack we`ll go into the first test with". It seems unlikely, however, that Adams will be considered for the test. He will barely have had time for a net in India by the time the match starts and it must be assumed the he is being sent over to acclimatise for possibly the second but more likely the third test. What his presence here will do, however, is to give India pause for thought as they contemplate picking 3 spinners with a wicket prepared to suit the turning ball. This still seems to be the home team`s strategy. 2 of the 3 South Africa wickets which fell as the vistors progressed to 74 went to Venkatapathy Raju, the slow left armer who has lost his test place to Sunil Joshi. Andrew Hudson, who looked comfortable until given out caught off bat and pad, made 39 in 80 minutes at the crease, but captain Hansie Cronje played a poor shot to get himself caught at mid-off after facing only 15 balls. And Gary Kirsten was never entirely at ease in making only 11 as the South Africans were left to ponder the fact that not one of the their batsmen has reached 50 since the end of the one-day tournament. Source :: The Star Contributed by Bob.Dubery (dauphin@aztec.co.za)