South Africa are preparing for West Indies captain Chris Gayle to play in the third and deciding Test match starting at Kingsmead on Thursday, even though he has officially been ruled out of action.
”We’re preparing as if he’s going to play,” Proteas captain Graeme Smith said on Wednesday. ”There was also a lot of talk about whether he would play before the Port Elizabeth Test. If he plays, we’re ready for him. We actually want him to play.”
Smith hinted that South Africa might play five seamers in the Test.
”The idea of playing an extra seamer is certainly in our minds, and obviously when we look at the pitch, we need to make a decision. These days, I always tend towards picking a spinner, but here in Durban we’ll have to see what we have to do to win the series.
”Durban never really takes a huge amount of spin, but it does bounce a little for the spinner. Those are things we need to take into consideration.”
He said he was fairly confident that Dale Steyn, who suffered a low-grade hamstring injury in the second Test in Cape Town, would be fit to play in the second Test.
”Dale’s progressing very nicely. He was running yesterday [Tuesday], which was encouraging to see. I think he’ll do two sessions today. I’m fairly optimistic.”
The Proteas captain said he had been surprised by the way the West Indies had played in the series.
”Having played quite a lot against the West Indies, I’ve been quite surprised, although not shocked, by the way they have played. They’ve shown a lot more discipline and patience than we’ve come to expect from them.
”Their three fast bowlers have bowled pretty well on the tour so far, which is always going to help in South Africa where the pitches tend to help the bowlers a little bit, and that’s been the key — they’ve bowled in the right areas and with aggression.
”And some of their batters have shown real patience and commitment. We’ve had to work hard. Even though we won in four days in Cape Town, we put in a lot of work, and those are the best Test matches, [which are] won where you’ve put in that work.”
He said the competitive nature of the first two Tests had been something of a reality check, for management and for the players.
”We’ve realised how much work it’s going to take if we are going to be successful. Things don’t just happen, especially when we go on the road to India, England and Australia. Those of us who’ve been to those places know how tough it is, and there has been a realisation of what a tough year we have ahead of us.”
Smith said he believed the key to winning the Test and the series was taking care of what needed to be done.
”We can’t look too far ahead,” he said. ”Often you can concentrate too much on the end result. One of the things we are working hard at is controlling the little facets of the game from day one.
”We will take it as is comes, winning the little processes along the way. When there are big matches, crucial matches, those are the things you need to take care of, otherwise you spend so much time worrying about the end result you forget to win the little things in the game that can get you there. Keep it simple and rely on your ability.” — Sapa