POOLE Pirates ace Chris Holder made a surprise appearance in tonight’s Best Pairs Cup first round in Poland – 48 hours after ruling himself out through injury.

Holder suffered a fall in the first heat of Pirates’ Elite Shield second-leg victory at King’s Lynn on Thursday and despite attempting a second ride, played no further part.

A Poole statement reported the Aussie star had suffered a dead wrist.

The accident damaged the wrist that Holder had undergone surgery on in January after a spill in practice for the Australian Solo Speedway Championship.

He had previously broken the same wrist in a Danish Super League meeting in June last year.

The 2012 world champion took to twitter after the spill in Norfolk to reveal plans to miss the Best Pairs Cup and return to action on Good Friday – when Pirates are due open their Elite League title defence with a double-header against Swindon.

Holder tweeted: "I'm ok thanks, not riding pairs this wknd, be back Friday, thanks for ya messages."

However, the Grand Prix charger raced alongside Jason Doyle in Torun and helped defending champions Australia finish third behind winners Denmark and second-placed Poland.

National boss Mark Lemon had elected to stick with his original line-up at the Marian Rose MotoArena – Holder, Doyle and Troy Batchelor – despite earlier speculation that Dakota North had been called up to replace his Pirates team-mate.