West Indies cricket captain Brian Lara made a rallying cry to his teammates on Thursday to put an unhappy year behind them and level the series against South Africa.
The Windies lost the Boxing Day Test at Kingsmead by an innings and 65 runs to go 2-0 down in the four match series and raise fears that they would be whitewashed once again.
At Kingsmead, the Windies’ woeful form was compounded by a spate of injuries.
Lara, however, is confident that opening batsman Chris Gayle will be passed fit for the third Test beginning at Newlands on Wednesday and is hopeful that a number of other players, including Shivnarine Chanderpaul, will also recover in time.
”I want to start the new year on a high,” said Lara at the Newlands nets on Wednesday. ”I want us to put the past behind us this year and come out on top, starting right here in Cape Town.
”The South Africans want to repeat what happened in 1998 but we want to improve and win the next two Tests. What will help is that quite a few guys are coming back from injuries and hopefully we’ll be able to pick from a full squad.”
Lara again stressed that the possibility of suffering another whitewash was not acceptable.
”This team is capable of beating anybody in the world,” insisted Lara. ”We wouldn’t go into this Test match if we didn’t think we could win it.”
Both sides, it seems, will include a spinner in the playing XI on a track that has traditionally taken plenty of spin on the final few days.
”I think both teams needed a spinner in Durban,” said Lara.
”South Africa used Jacques Rudolph with some success and we were also quite successful with Ramnaresh Sarwan. So the spinning option is definitely going to be taken into consideration here.”
The Windies, should they opt for a spinner, will include left arm spinner Dave Mohammed in their XI while South Africa will give Paul Adams another chance at Test level.
”The guys must grab the opportunities when they get them,” said South African skipper Graeme Smith, after passing a fitness test at Newlands.
”Andre Nel took his chance at the Wanderers and he’s taking wickets. Now it’s Paul’s turn. I want Paul to put his hand up and make that spinning berth his own.”
All-rounder Andrew Hall is likely to lose his place if Adams is picked on Friday morning.
South Africa: Graeme Smith (captain), Herschelle Gibbs, Jacques Rudolph, Jacques Kallis, Neil McKenzie, Martin van Jaarsveld, Mark Boucher, Shaun Pollock, Andrew Hall, Makhaya Ntini, Andre Nel, Paul Adams.
West Indies: Brian Lara (captain), Dave Mohammed, Carlton Baugh, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Corey Collymore, Mervyn Dillon, Vasbert Drakes, Fidel Edwards, Daren Ganga, Wavel Hinds, Ridley Jacobs, Adam Sandford, Ravindarnath Rampaul, Dwayne Smith, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Chris Gayle. – Sapa