A spinner-friendly Newlands pitch has South Africa picking Nicky Boje to be influential and New Zealand considering choosing two spinners for the second Test starting on Thursday.
Boje was a definite starter in South Africa’s bid to clinch the three-Test series, coach Mickey Arthur said on Tuesday.
The Proteas had considered dropping Boje for a fourth seamer, but after inspecting the pitch Arthur believed it would break up enough for spin to have an impact, and the Proteas’ only concern was who to pair with Makhaya Ntini to open the bowling — Andre Nel or Dale Steyn.
”It’s a nice position to be in, to have a choice like that,” Arthur said. ”Dale Steyn has broadened our pool, and it means that we can rotate our bowlers a bit more, and make sure that they don’t suffer from burnout.”
Whether South Africa also bat or bowl first if they win the toss will also depend on how much dew there is left on the pitch.
”It looks as if it will be a very good batting wicket,” Arthur said. ”If the pitch at Supersport Park is anything to go by [from the first Test], it will be like plasticine in the morning, and harden up during the day. But we’ve never played a Test at Newlands so late in the year, so we are heading into uncharted territory.”
The Black Caps were giving serious thought to debuting offspinner Jeetan Patel beside mainstay Daniel Vettori.
”Two spinners may come into the picture if the pitch continues to bake off,” New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming said. ”It’s something we’ll debate long and hard tonight [Wednesday night].
”We’ll have another look at the pitch later today and tomorrow morning, before making up our minds, but we believe we have a good enough seam attack to be able to accommodate two spinners. Daniel will definitely be there and his ability to win games and put the opposition under pressure is unquestioned.”
New Zealand brought back Michael Papps to open the batting with Peter Fulton, after Hamish Marshall was ruled out with a cracked rib he received from a Ntini delivery in last week’s first test, a 128-run loss at Centurion.
Papps made his Test debut in 2004 against South Africa, and played his last Test that year.
Batting was New Zealand’s major concern after the top order’s failure to fire at Centurion.
”We’ve got to consistently get more runs from our top order,” Fleming said. ”What that does is it gives us more time for the bowlers to recover, and gives us an opportunity to win games rather than chase games.”
Arthur was expecting New Zealand to rebound stronger after the loss at Centurion.
”If we’re not on top of our game, they will expose us,” he said. ”New Zealand are very street-smart, and they are very organised. You can never underestimate them.” — Sapa-AP
Squads
South Africa: Graeme Smith (captain), Hashim Amla, AB de Villiers, Boeta Dippenaar, Jacques Kallis, Ashwell Prince, Mark Boucher, Shaun Pollock, Nicky Boje, Makhaya Ntini, Andre Nel, Dale Steyn, Andrew Hall.
New Zealand: Peter Fulton, Michael Papps, Stephen Fleming (captain), Scott Styris, Nathan Astle, Jacob Oram, Brendon McCullum, Daniel Vettori, James Franklin, Kyle Mills, Chris Martin, Jeetan Patel.