Vintage Bollinger

Clarke says his team will be going all out for another win at the Zayed Stadium today.

ABU DHABI // Michael Clarke stressed that there is no such thing as a dead rubber in the minds of Australian cricketers and that he and his colleagues will be going all out at the Zayed Stadium today to make it four wins in a row. Pakistan won the opening match in Dubai but Australia have roared back since, winning the last three games to clinch the series with one game to play.

"The guys who did not play on Friday night will not be looking at it [today's match] as a dead rubber," said Clarke, the stand-in captain. "They will see it as another opportunity to stake a claim for future positions." Doug Bollinger certainly did that on Friday night. The big New South Wales pace bowler ripped through a powerful Pakistani batting line-up to return a terrific analysis of five for 35 in stamina-sapping heat of more than 40°c on Friday.

His outstanding performance sparked immediate talk about a place in the forthcoming World Twenty20 Cup and even a coveted position on the late-summer trip to England when the Aussies will be seeking to hang on to the Ashes. Bollinger is not getting carried away, though, particularly with Brett Lee approaching full fitness. "I just hope that I have done enough to get another game for Australia on Sunday," said a calm but overjoyed Bollinger after only his second ODI.

"But if this has given me a platform and if it creates another opportunity for me then I will grab it with both hands. "You dream of being part of a situation like this. It's been a great trip so far and I'm looking forward to what remains of it." Bollinger's heroics with the ball were enough to land the man-of-the-match accolade ahead of Clarke who played a captain's innings of the highest calibre to sweep the touring Australians to a Chapal Cup triumph on Friday.

Clarke, deputising superbly for the rested Ricky Ponting, was not complaining as he congratulated his team's rookie fast bowler for playing a marginally more influential role in the clinching of their country's first one-day international series win since beating lowly Bangladesh last September. Clarke had walked to the wicket with his team rocking at three for two as they set out to chase down opponents Pakistan's moderate but testing total of 197.

Considering he was still at the crease three hours later with an unbeaten century as his partner Shane Watson hit the shot which sealed an emphatic eight-wicket victory, it was going to require something special to eclipse him to the man-of-the-match gong. The visit to the UAE for the away series against the exiled Pakistanis has been a defining part of Clarke's blossoming career but he was at pains to keep it in perspective.

"Our real captain [Ponting] is back in Australia and we can't wait to have him back because he is a great leader," said Clarke. "I'm honoured to have been given this chance and I have enjoyed the opportunity." @Email:[e-mail]