da cassino online： Cricinfo previews the third Test between South Africa and Australia in Cape Town
Brydon Coverdale in Cape Town18-Mar-2009Match factsMarch 19-23, 2009
Start time 10.30am (08.30GMT)Ashwell Prince, who will open the batting for South Africa, has a point to prove to selectors after he was left out of the first two Tests•Getty Images
Big PictureThe series is decided and the Cape Town Test has become a dead rubberbut for several individuals there is still plenty to play for. TheAustralians in particular will be keen to keep up their strong formahead of their next Test appointment. The Ashes begin in July andwith the likelihood that established players such as Stuart Clark,Brett Lee and Andrew Symonds will be available for selection, thenewer faces in the squad will be desperate to push their cases forspots on the tour. Men like Ben Hilfenhaus and Marcus North have allbut booked their places for the England trip and a strong performancein Cape Town would cap off their auditions.As far as team momentum is concerned, this game has far lessimportance than the equivalent dead rubber in Sydney in January.Australia fought back from their 2-0 series deficit to win that gameand the impetus helped them begin strongly in South Africa, whiletheir opponents faded away. But this time the South Africans have noTest cricket on the agenda for nine months – their home series againstEngland begins in December.It’s therefore hard to know what the likes of Ashwell Prince andImraan Khan can take out of this game in isolation. The two men havebeen included as the openers for this game in the absence of theinjured Graeme Smith and the axed Neil McKenzie. Prince and Khan couldbe competing for one opening position when Smith returns but with solong before the England series, they have no choice but to treat thisas a one-off match.Form guide (last five Tests, most recent first)South Africa LLLWW
Australia WWWLL
Watch out forAshwell Prince has been asked to open and it’s not a job thathe is used to. A trial run for the Warriors on the weekend worked well- he made a handy 254 against an attack boasting both Morkel brothers.Prince will also be keen to prove a point to the selectors, who lefthim out at the start of this series despite his standing as the team’svice-captain, after he missed all three Tests in Australia due to acracked thumb.Mitchell Johnson is the leading wicket taker for the series andmost significantly his repertoire now boasts the inswinger toright-handers. It has made him a serious threat in the swinging SouthAfrican conditions and if the Newlands pitch has a hint of green onthe first morning he could be a handful. South Africa’s new openerswill be warily eyeing off Smith’s hands after Johnson broke one inSydney and the other in Durban.Team newsThere has been nothing but team news for South Africa over the pastweek. After the Durban loss, McKenzie and Morne Morkel were droppedand with Smith injured, it meant three changes to a side that hadn’taltered at all since the start of the tour of Australia. Prince andKhan will form a new and experimental opening partnership, while AlbieMorkel is set to make his debut at the expense of his brother.South Africa (likely) 1 Imraan Khan, 2 Ashwell Prince, 3 HashimAmla, 4 Jacques Kallis (capt), 5 AB de Villiers, 6 JP Duminy, 7 MarkBoucher (wk), 8 Albie Morkel, 9 Paul Harris, 10 Dale Steyn, 11 MakhayaNtini.Australia’s only decision was likely to be whether to use the same XI that wonthe first two Tests or include the legspinner Bryce McGain. However, their situation has been complicated by a bout of gastro that struck down North the day before the game. He did not train with the squad on Wednesday and it meant the Australians were forced to delay naming their 12. With no batting backups in the touring party, if North fails to recover it will almost certainly mean a debut for McGain. The Newlands pitch is expected to offer some turn, so McGain is a chance to play anyway, and at just a week short of his 37th birthday he would be Australia’s oldest debutant since Bob Holland. If he does play it could be as a replacement for his Victoria team-mateAndrew McDonald, who has been solid in the first two Tests without categorically imposing himself on them.Australia (possible) 1 Phillip Hughes, 2 Simon Katich, 3 RickyPonting (capt), 4 Michael Hussey, 5 Michael Clarke, 6 Marcus North, 7Brad Haddin (wk), 8 Mitchell Johnson, 9 Peter Siddle, 10 Bryce McGain,11 Ben Hilfenhaus.Pitch and conditionsLess than 24 hours before the game, the Newlands pitch was sportingsignificant patches of grass, although there were sizeable bare spotsat either end. It will be given a shave before the match and shouldbecome the best batting surface of the series. The forecast for thefirst few days is for perfectly sunny conditions and temperatures ofaround 25C.Stats and TriviaAustralia’s Test record at Newlands rivals their record anywherein the world. They have won nine of their ten Tests at the venue,losing for the only time in 1969-70Australia are the only team to have beaten South Africa inNewlands Tests in the post-Apartheid eraRicky Ponting needs 52 runs to reach 11,000 in Tests, a mark thatonly Sachin Tendulkar, Brian Lara and Allan Border have achievedThis will be the last Test appearance for the umpire SteveBucknor, who will quit the game having stood in a record 128TestsQuotes”There’s a lot of upsides in Bryce playing in this game but with thisgroup of players we’ve got together and the work that they’ve doneover the past few weeks it is going to be difficult to break the sideup.”
“We’ve got to take note of what they did in the third Test match inSydney. They turned it around and we’ve got to do the same here.”