Match facts: February 14-18, 2013
Start time: 10:30 local (08:30 GMT)
“The more accolades there are, the more expectation there is on me. I woke up before the Wanderers Test at 4am dreaming I had got a pair.”
Graeme Smith on captaining South Africa for the 100th time, at Newlands.
Were Pakistan really Test-ready ahead of the Wanderers Test? Going by their first-innings capitulation for 49 – their lowest Test score – certainly not.
When you’re up against the No.1 side in the world, you want to give your players enough time to acclimatise and adjust to the seamer-friendly conditions. A solitary warm-up game in East London wasn’t enough. With the first Test starting nearly three weeks after the India tour ended, there were suggestions that Pakistan could have arrived in South Africa earlier, and probably squeezed in another warm-up. Mohammad Hafeez had stated recently that Pakistan needed more Tests in their calendar to get some momentum going. For a team that last played a Test in July, their preparation ahead of the Wanderers was inadequate. They were caught short against the moving ball and the captain Misbah-ul-Haq said Dale Steyn was too much for his batsmen to handle.
Their opposition in the warm-up between Tests – the Emerging Cape Cobras – may not have been the strongest, but it was an opportunity to rectify those technical glitches, and Younis Khan was the only batsman to score a fifty. The pitch at Newlands is expected to give Pakistan some relief, as it is expected to favour the batsmen more than the Wanderers strip did. What Pakistan need to show is resilience, and since Misbah took over, they’ve shown plenty of that.
South Africa have no such concerns and will look to wrap up the series at their strongest home venue. Graeme Smith, who led South Africa to the top of the rankings, will be playing his 100th Test as captain of his country. Their decision not to rotate their bowlers, unlike Australia, indicated they’re hungry to close out the series as soon as possible. The early finish at the Wanderers gave them an extra day’s rest.
In the spotlight
Sarfraz Ahmed was preferred ahead of Adnan Akmal as the wicketkeeper for the Tests, for reasons not properly explained. Though his keeping was tidy at the Wanderers, he had a poor game with the bat, scoring 2 and 6. As the lone specialist keeper in the squad, coupled with the absence of the Akmal brothers, his place in the line-up doesn’t look in danger, but Pakistan will need better contributions from him as a lower-order batsman. It would be unfair to write Sarfraz off too quickly, since he had played just one Test prior to the Wanderers since his international debut in 2007. The forthcoming Tests present an opportunity to establish himself in the squad as the first-choice keeper.
Robin Peterson was a forgotten man during Pakistan’s collapse for 49, because he wasn’t required. Though he got 10 overs in the second innings, he returned wicketless. He admitted that it can be lonely as a spinner in these conditions: “It’s no fun sometimes being the spinner in South Africa and you go through periods of play where you don’t even bowl.” He is unlikely to be made redundant in Newlands, though, with the pitch expected to give more assistance to the spinners compared to the one at the Wanderers.
Team news
There was bad news for Pakistan on the eve of the Test, with the left-arm seamer Junaid Khan in doubt as he is yet to recover from a thigh injury. Mohammad Irfan, the 7ft left-armer who toured India recently, was anyway in line for a Test debut after his seven-wicket haul in the warm-up. Pakistan’s coach Dav Whatmore hinted at playing an additional spinner, Abdur Rehman, which means Rahat Ali, who went wicketless in the first Test, may have to make way.
Pakistan (probable): 1 Mohammed Hafeez, 2 Nasir Jamshed, 3 Azhar Ali, 4 Younis Khan, 5 Misbah-ul-Haq (capt), 6 Asad Shafiq, 7 Sarfraz Ahmed (wk), 8 Umar Gul, 9 Saeed Ajmal, 10 and 11 Junaid Khan/ Mohammad Irfan/Rahat Ali
South Africa will play an unchanged line-up.
South Africa (probable): 1 Graeme Smith (capt), 2 Alviro Petersen, 3 Hashim Amla, 4 Jacques Kallis, 5 AB de Villiers (wk), 6 Faf du Plessis, 7 Dean Elgar, 8 Vernon Philander, 9 Robin Peterson, 10 Dale Steyn, 11 Morne Morkel
Pitch and conditions
The pitch was watered on Tuesday night and a fair amount of grass was shaved off. There are small hints of green and it looks the usual, good Newlands strip. It was expected to be a ‘grafting’ surface, something the batsmen should enjoy. There is a possibility of rain tomorrow so a delayed start is likely.
Jacques Kallis has scored 2158 runs in 21 Tests at Newlands, at an average of 77.07, with nine centuries in 33 innings. In his last six Tests here he has scored five hundreds, including his highest of 224 against Sri Lanka in 2012.
Dale Steyn is one wicket away from becoming the highest wicket-taker in Tests in Cape Town. Steyn is currently tied on 53 with Makhaya Ntini. While Ntini took his wickets in 13 Tests at an average of 29.09, Steyn has taken 53 in ten Tests at 20.98.
CSA, Proteas to honour Mark Boucher
Boucher’s career came to a tragic end during the Proteas tour of England last year when he suffered a bad eye injury during the opening tour match against Somerset at Taunton.
He retired, having claimed a staggering 999 dismissals across the three formats of international cricket. He also claimed one wicket as a bowler in a test match against the West Indies to round it up to 1 000!
The tribute is a joint initiative by CSA, Castle Lager and Boucher’s teammates and will reach a high point during the tea interval when Proteas Castle Lager test captain Graeme Smith makes a presentation to Boucher.
Boucher will also do a ‘Media Tour’ during which he will be interviewed live on SuperSport, will join the radio commentary team on SABC 2000 and will do an informal conference with the print media during the final session of play.
Skipper Graeme Smith believes South Africa have possibly the best top-six among contemporary batting line-ups as they prepare to face Pakistan in the second test at Newlands starting on Thursday.
The Proteas crushed Pakistan by 211 runs in the first test at the Wanderers, a win built on the ferocious performance of the team’s bowling unit spearheaded by Dale Steyn.
Smith also praised the batsmen as he seeks his fifth win in a row as captain.
“Our top six is one of the best going around with our experience and the ability to adapt to game situations,” Smith said.
“We understand how to handle conditions and what is the right play at the right time.
“Test matches are about patterns of play and the top three especially has done well in setting up a base for the rest. The new ball is a tough place to bat in South Africa, but we have often come through that and been able to lay a solid platform.”
Smith expected Pakistan to adopt a more cautious approach to their batting in second test in contrast to their cavalier approach at the Wanderers.
“Pakistan are in a dangerous position as a team, they are a team…used to having two vastly different performances,” Smith says.
“We cannot underestimate them, especially with the ball. If there is one team who can bounce back it is Pakistan.”
The tourists are likely to bring in seam bowler Mohammad Irfan after his fine performances in a warm-up fixture against an Emerging Cape Cobras side in which he took seven wickets for 40 runs in the match. At over seven feet tall, he will present a new challenge.
“It will be a unique experience,” Smith said with a smile.
Morning all!
We just had a rain shower. I hope it isn’t something that will delay the test.
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