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Head coach says it would be ‘slightly mad’ if duo are left on sidelines during Championship season

Vithushan Ehantharajah27-Feb-2024England head coach Brendon McCullum says it would be “slightly mad” if Tom Hartley and Shoaib Bashir are unable to build on a breakthrough tour of India in county cricket, and has suggested clubs should produce pitches to assist in the development of spinners across the country.Hartley and Bashir have been two plus points in a series in which England competed well but still lost after India took an unassailable 3-1 lead on Monday, with victory in the fourth Test at Ranchi. Having arrived with minimal first-class experience, the left-arm spinner and off-spinner respectively have acquitted themselves brilliantly throughout, against opposition batters proficient at playing the turning ball.Hartley has played all four Tests and is currently the leading wicket-taker in the series (20), having taken just 19 in the entirety of Lancashire’s Division One campaign last summer. Bashir, who only made his first-class debut in 2023 and arrived with 10 dismissals at an average of 67 for Somerset, has more than doubled his red-ball tally with 12 Test wickets. Both picked up five-wicket hauls on this trip.Related

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Their selections were made to meet England’s specific requirements for success in India: tall spinners driving the ball into the pitch, aping the likes of R Ashwin and Axar Patel, who have had so much success in home conditions. After impressing with the Lions under men’s performance director Mo Bobat – who left the ECB last week to take up a post at Royal Challengers Bangalore – Hartley and Bashir were essentially fast-tracked into the England set-up, where they have since thrived.The concern, however, is the pair may be stunted by a lack of playing time when they return to their counties, which England want to avoid given they are building towards a tour of Pakistan in October.Lancashire, for instance, have signed Nathan Lyon for the season, the Australian veteran spinner who claimed his 500th Test wicket at Perth in December. Speaking after bowling England to victory in the first Test with 7 for 62, Hartley reflected it would be “fantastic” if they were able to play together but acknowledged Lyon would be the main man in the XI.Bashir, meanwhile, has England team-mate Jack Leach to contend with at Somerset. Leach, who is having surgery on Thursday to ease the swelling in the damaged left knee that ruled him out of the India series after just one Test, will need Championship games to work himself back to full fitness for the home series against West Indies and Sri Lanka. Though Taunton pitches occasionally favour a multi-spinner approach, Bashir was the only one in the XI for his three appearances at home last summer. Leach presented Bashir with his maiden cap for the second Test in Visakhapatnam.Bashir’s eight wickets in Ranchi gave England hope of squaring the series•AFP via Getty Images

“It will be a slight frustration of ours if they weren’t given opportunities at county level,” McCullum said. “There’s a very real possibility that might be the case, but without wanting to dictate to counties because they have their own agendas as well, when you see performances like we have out of those two bowlers throughout the series, I think you’d be slightly mad if you didn’t give them more opportunities in county cricket.”It would be nice to think they’d get plenty of opportunities so that they can improve at a quicker rate. Whether those opportunities are with counties or with England, I think we’ve just got to keep trying to get cricket into them. Whatever opportunity we can, we’ll try and give it to them because there’s two guys there more than good enough for international cricket. They’re also tough characters.”What you can’t tell from the outside of a man’s body is the size of their heart – and we’ve seen both of them have big hearts and they’re up for international cricket. It doesn’t get any harder than it is right now, and they’ve both stood up and performed, so we’ve just to keep giving both of them chances.”It was a sentiment echoed by the captain Ben Stokes in the immediate aftermath of England’s five-wicket defeat in the fourth Test, but acknowledged it was “very tough” to force counties to adhere to specific needs. McCullum suggested a workaround of sorts could be if teams produced surfaces that encourage turn more, a move that he believes would enhance the craft and provide more entertainment.Hartley’s seven-wicket haul in Hyderabad secured a famous England win•BCCI

“As much as England’s about playing on good wickets and having the ball move off the seam, it should also be about playing on spinning wickets too,” he said. “If we lived in a world where we could have both Bash and Leachy able to operate in spinning conditions at Somerset, and Hartley and Lyon could bowl together at Lancashire, I think that would be a great viewing point for spectators.”Hartley and Bashir are the latest examples of an England set-up not beholden to domestic form and numbers. Zak Crawley, for instance, was selected initially in 2019, despite scoring just three first-class centuries in 36 matches for Kent, before McCullum and Stokes backed him during a tough start under their tenure. Having top-scored in the Ashes, he is now leading England’s run charts in India with 328 at an average of 41.Despite looking beyond the numbers, McCullum insisted England’s selection policies are not dismissive of county form. Indeed the scale and variety within English cricket has allowed them to be more precise with their picks.”We certainly don’t pick in spite of county cricket, if that’s what you mean. We look at what we need skill-wise and we try and adjust it to what we think we’re going to require, and be brave enough to make decisions around it. We’re not going to get every decision right.”From our point of view there’s a big team out looking around county cricket, and the guys who we think play in the way we want to play as a cricket team, and who fit the environment as well. And there’s a lot of eyes on those guys throughout. So it’s not certainly in spite of it. County cricket is a good system, it’s got a lot of cricketers opportunities, it’s got a volume of cricket as well and different conditions.”Some guys who have got great county numbers might not find themselves necessarily in the England team. And some guys who don’t will find themselves in, but that’s not a reflection of that [county cricket]. It’s just about the skill set we want.”

Trevor Griffin invited to re-apply for job after seventh-placed finish in 2022

ESPNcricinfo staff17-Nov-2022The MCC have advertised for a new London Spirit coach in the women’s Hundred after missing out on the knockout stages in the tournament’s first two seasons.Trevor Griffin, the Western Storm and Sydney Thunder coach, took charge of Spirit in the last two seasons but has been invited to re-apply for his job as part of an open recruitment process. Hundred coaches are appointed on one-year contracts which can be extended by mutual agreement.Spirit missed out on the play-offs on net run-rate in 2021 but struggled in 2022, losing four of their six games and finishing second-bottom in the group stages.Related

• Knight ready for England comeback after successful hip surgery

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• Griffin: 'I'd love to be the England women's head coach'

“London Spirit has recently opened the process to recruit a head coach for its women’s team in the 2023 edition of the Hundred,” an MCC spokesperson said.”This open recruitment process is designed to find the best possible head coach for London Spirit women for 2023, with all candidates who meet the criteria, including the head coach from 2022, invited to apply.”London Spirit, in conjunction with the England and Wales Cricket Board, will announce the outcome of the recruitment process at a later date.”Dates for the Hundred’s 2023 season have not been officially announced but the tournament is expected to run from the first week of August until the weekend of August 26. Applications for Spirit’s vacancy close on November 21.

Pakistan’s focus now on the Tests, says the pacer, with the series being a key one for his side in the new World Test Championship cycle

Danyal Rasool04-Aug-2021An early 1-0 lead that’s consolidated by not much happening for the rest of the contest sounds like something out of Jose Mourinho’s playbook, but if ever a cricketing equivalent were to have such a result, you’d put good money on Misbah-ul-Haq being the mastermind. There weren’t too many tactics involved in that scoreline, though, with uncooperative weather ensuring a T20I in Guyana was all the cricket that could be played, and once Pakistan edged West Indies in it, there was little West Indies could do to prevent a Pakistan series win.But while the weather might be the enduring narrative from what should have been a five-match series (even before the weather played foul, Covid-19 cut into the schedule), Pakistan fast bowler Hasan Ali insisted a series win at the home of the defending T20 world champions meant a lot to his side. “Winning away to a side with such firepower that they can hurt you anytime is great. A win is a win and we’re very happy with the series victory in the West Indies,” he said. “We’re all disappointed because we wanted to play. Even when it was raining we were all raring to go. But the weather is not in our control. Of course, the disappointment is we couldn’t prepare properly away to a champion side.”We had to learn some lessons from the England series, and we’re working on our bowling in the middle and the death. I really like our bowling unit right now, and also my personal form. As a bowling unit, we trust each other and our coaches trust us too. Of course, we have to improve, but we have a month or two to hone our skills ahead of the T20 World Cup.”There’s another assignment, though, before the focus shifts completely to the shortest format. A two-match Test series against West Indies starting next week, to kick off the new World Test Championship (WTC) cycle for both sides. Unlike the last cycle, which somewhat passed Pakistan by, the fixtures and scheduling have fallen in a way that represents a real chance for Babar Azam’s side to claim a spot in the final come 2023. The upcoming two-match series presents arguably Pakistan’s most challenging away fixtures in this cycle, with the other away series against Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.That, of course, makes performing in this Test series that much more important, and Ali said the series was his side’s primary focus for the moment.”We’re looking forward to the Tests; we have a few days to get used to the red ball. I’ll try to capitalise on my form and the rhythm I’ve got going for now,” Ali said. “Our team is very balanced. We have plenty of spinners with Yasir [Shah] coming back, and in dry conditions like these that’s very useful.”Then we also have [pace options in] Shaheen [Afridi], Naseem [Shah], [Mohammad] Abbas and myself. We’ve won the last two Test series [against West Indies] and we’re looking to continue that and get the WTC off in victorious fashion.”Facing up to the usual, mandatory question on Pakistan being drawn in the same group as India in the T20 World Cup group, Ali was clear that it was not something the team was dwelling on. “We’re not looking forward to the India match right now at all, to be honest with you,” he said. “That’s still very far away. My focus is just on these two Tests right now.”

He’s targeting the role of a finisher in the Indian team and has been training with that in mind

ESPNcricinfo staff07-Apr-202032:18

‘I still have that fire burning in me, I really want to compete’

Robin Uthappa, who last played for India in July 2015 on a tour of Zimbabwe, believes he “still has a World Cup” left in him, and is targeting a comeback to the Indian team in the T20 format.Uthappa, 34, has played 46 ODIs and 13 T20Is, and was part of the 2007 50-over World Cup campaign as well as the inaugural T20 World Cup played later in the same year. However, he was dropped from the team in mid-2008 and his international appearances since then have been sporadic, with a total of eight ODIs and four T20Is since his first comeback in October 2011.”Right now I want to be competitive. I still have that fire burning in me, I really want to compete and do well,” Uthappa told ESPNcricinfo. “I honestly believe I have a World Cup left in me, so I’m pursuing that, especially the shortest format. The blessings of Lady Luck or God or whatever you call it, plays a massive factor. Especially in India, it becomes so much more evident. I don’t think it is evident when you’re playing cricket outside of India. But in the subcontinent and India especially, with the amount of talent that we do have in our country, all of those aspects become evident.”You can never write yourself off. You would be unfair to yourself if you write yourself off. Especially if you believe you have the ability and you know that there is an outside chance. So I still believe in that outside chance. I still believe that things can go my way and I probably can be a part of a World Cup-winning team and play an integral role in that as well. Those dreams are still alive and I think I’ll keep playing cricket till that is alive.”Uthappa has scored 934 runs in ODIs at an average of 25.94 and a strike rate of 90.59, while in T20Is his corresponding numbers are 249 runs at 24.90 and 118.00. He has had great success in the IPL, initially with Royal Challengers Bangalore and then in more sustained fashion with Kolkata Knight Riders. He was the top run-getter in the IPL in 2014, and central to Knight Riders’ title run that year. However, underwhelming returns in 2019 meant the team released him, and he was picked by Rajasthan Royals in the last auction.On his numerous short comebacks in the Indian team – he played one T20I in 2011, one in 2012, five ODIs in 2014 and finally three ODIs and two T20Is in 2015 – Uthappa felt he had been batted out of position.”When I played for India [in 2007 and 2008], I scored all my runs opening the batting. Then [in his comeback phases] I ended up playing for India in the middle-order, which seems so… from one perception it seems very unfair,” Uthappa said. “That kind of cycle has repeated itself maybe three or four times in the three or four comebacks that I’ve made in the Indian team. I scored all the runs up the order, and I got to bat in the middle-order when I got back in the Indian team.”Stats-wise, Uthappa has slightly better numbers when he has not opened the batting for India. In the 16 ODI innings in which he batted at the top of the order, he has an average of 25.50 and a strike rate of 88.31 with four half-centuries. In 26 ODI innings in which he has batted lower down, he averages 26.30 at a strike rate of 92.44 with two half-centuries.Uthappa has opened only twice in T20Is, making 1 and 18* at less than a run a ball. When not opening the batting, he averages 25.55 at a strike rate of 121.69.In his comebacks in 2011, 2012 and 2014, Uthappa played as an opener and crossed 20 once in five innings. On another comeback in 2014 and a subsequent one in 2015, he batted in the middle-order.Uthappa said he was targeting the role of being a finisher for the Indian team and had begun training with that specific goal in mind, till the coronavirus pandemic enforced a standstill.”What I’ve been trying to do is to make sure that I’m well prepared,” he explained. “Opening the batting is something I can do at any point of time. I’m trying to make sure I’m well equipped to bat in the middle order as well. One of the things that we need today in Indian cricket is a good finisher, and that’s something that I’m pursuing and working hard on. It’s something I’m looking forward to improving on a day to day basis.”I’m actually missing practice really bad right now because that was one of the aspects I was working on and I felt like I was beginning to get somewhere. Because you know it’s a process. These kinds of things don’t just turn up on their head. You need to work on it and get better at it on a day to day, week to week, month to month basis. I felt like I was getting places. A small kind of sweet spot. God willing, I believe it will happen at some point in time.”

The debate was reopened once again after the team wrapped up a 3-0 lead in the five-match series against New Zealand, with Kohli saying there are enough contenders to consider a more flexible approach

ESPNcricinfo staff28-Jan-20196:22

‘Pandya makes our bowling and batting more balanced’ – Kohli

India keep racking up ODI trophies – they’ll collect their tenth in the last 11 series – but through it all there has remained one major area of concern: the No. 4 spot.Nine men have been tried since the end of the Champions Trophy in June 2017 with Ambati Rayudu the incumbent, having scored 341 runs in nine innings at an average of 56 and a strike-rate of 93. Dinesh Karthik has been decent as well with his ability to score runs through unorthodox shots. MS Dhoni is an option when there have been too many early wickets, and Hardik Pandya too has had spells up the order, often when the team needed quick runs.India don’t quite know who the best out of that lot is. Virat Kohli backed Rayudu at No. 4 in October but, earlier this month, his vice-captain Rohit Sharma suggested that Dhoni was better suited for the role. The debate was reopened once again after the team wrapped up a 3-0 lead in the five-match series against New Zealand, with Kohli saying there are enough contenders to consider a more flexible approach.”I think the last five games if you see, two in Australia and three here, I said No. 4 is still something we’re looking to solidify. But when Rayudu starts playing like that, you start feeling more confident about the batting line-up,” he said. “Dinesh is in great form as well so he can step in at any time in case we need to shuffle the middle order at any stage. MS has been hitting the ball really well. So everyone’s in a good zone. I don’t feel after looking at the first three games we have a lot of things to worry about.”Dinesh Karthik (left) and Ambati Rayudu bump fists during their partnership•Getty Images

Firepower in the middle order is all the more important in modern-day limited-overs cricket – especially with a World Cup coming up – because it helps teams think of pushing a 300 total up to 350 and more. England have built their success around a heavyweight middle order, rising up to the No. 1 ranking in ODIs, and breaking the record for the highest total twice in the last three years.And Kohli felt having batsmen who accelerate through overs 30 to 40, especially while setting a total, could be a major point of difference in a one-day contest.”When you’re chasing, you’re anyway going after a target that’s big,” Kohli said. “But when batting first, you don’t know how much to set. So that is up to the two people batting in the middle. Who is the guy who wants to take that initiative and who is the guy who wants to or has to bat till the end. I think it will boil down to communication but that’s definitely going to be a team goal not just for us but all around the world. You see the patterns of teams that are getting big scores, that is the window they’re targeting and get those 20-30 extra runs.”Kohli has been rested from the final two ODIs of the series and he said he was happy with what he had seen from his players. “The thing that stands out for me is the relentless intensity with which the guys have played all these three games, not relaxing after 2-0 up as well, which I think is very very important. Now they’ve started to realise how to close series and how to capitalise when we have advantage in a series.”The bowlers were as hungry as the first two games. (Mohammed) Shami running in. Bhuvi (Bhuvneshwar Kumar) bowling good areas. Hardik was really, really good today as well and those two spinners [Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal] are quality anyway. Overall I’m really very pleased with how the games have gone.”

Glenn Maxwell, called in as cover for Warner, will now be on standby for both batsmen

Brydon Coverdale at the Gabba22-Nov-20170:53

Warner will bat like Chanderpaul if he has to – Smith

Shaun Marsh has joined David Warner on the injury-watch list after pulling up from training with a stiff back on the eve of the first Ashes Test in Brisbane. Warner had hurt his neck during a fielding drill on Tuesday. Glenn Maxwell was called in as cover on Wednesday; by the end of the afternoon, he found himself on standby for Marsh as well as Warner.The uncertainty complicates what would otherwise be a straightforward selection for Australia on Thursday morning. Should Warner be ruled out, the most logical move would be to shift Marsh up the order to open with Cameron Bancroft, and have Maxwell come in at No. 6. But Marsh himself being under a cloud muddies those waters somewhat.Earlier in the day, Australia captain Steven Smith had said he was confident Warner would be passed fit. Although Warner had faced only two throwdowns in the nets on Tuesday, he enjoyed a much longer batting session on match eve as he aimed to prove his fitness.”Davey’s going well,” Smith said after Australia’s training session on Wednesday. “He had a hit just before. He’s very confident and he says he’ll be right to go. It’s part and parcel of playing cricket. Guys have injuries now and then. You have little niggles and he’s confident that he’ll be okay. He said he’ll even bat like Shivnarine Chanderpaul if he has to bat that way. So I think he’ll be all right.”Soon after Smith’s press conference, Australia confirmed that Maxwell would be brought in as cover. Maxwell has played Australia’s four most recent Test matches, in India and Bangladesh, and scored his maiden Test hundred in Ranchi in March.However, he is yet to play a Test match on home soil, and was overlooked in the original squad as the selectors instead opted for Marsh as the No. 6 batsman.Smith also confirmed that, as expected, fast bowlers Jackson Bird and Chadd Sayers would sit out of the side from the 13-man squad.

Neil McKenzie, South Africa’s batting coach, said that South Africa would be wary of what is a quality Australian bowling attack, but they will not be intimidated

Firdose Moonda26-Oct-2016While South Africa are no longer worried by Australia’s pace, they remain wary of an attack that will test their batsmen in home conditions, in what is expected to be a battle of the bowlers in the upcoming three-Test series.”In terms of real, real pace, 150s-plus, guys like Mitchell Johnson and Brett Lee [aren’t around], but there are still guys who hit great areas; quality bowlers,” Neil McKenzie, South Africa’s batting coach, said. “The aggression is still there. I don’t know if the 150 is still there – Starc can get it up – but they are still a quality bowling line-up.”With Australia’s squad yet to be announced, and several seamers still in contention for a place, South Africa cannot be certain who they will face, but they are studying all possibilities. They may even have a glance at the Sheffield Shield on television, if for no other reason than novelty, because South Africa’s first-class cricket is not broadcast, and no matter what they see, McKenzie is confident it will not intimidate them.He did not go as far as to say South Africa no longer see Australia as the final frontier, primarily because they have won their last two Test series there, but stressed that the batsmen have no need to be afraid, of either the bowlers or the conditions. “I don’t think they will be underrated, ever, especially Australia. We know there’s a rich history, lots of tradition, and a lot of pride in their performances,” he said. “The bowlers are still quality, can still get you out and can still win Test matches, you’ve still got to respect whoever comes out there. But, I don’t think it’s the fear factor. Most of the guys are worried about losing their wicket, not of the fear factor, and that’s how it probably should be.”The WACA is no longer the pacemen’s paradise it once was either and South Africa may even consider themselves on even keel going into the series opener. “I don’t think it’s the WACA of old, of 15 years ago,” McKenzie said. “Most of the guys are brought up on quick decks back home, so I think the adjustment there is easier.”South Africa’s preparation for that match starts on Thursday, when, after a week spent on the pink ball, they play a two-day practice match with the usual red cherry. Their opposition is not as strong as an A side, but McKenzie said they want to work on fine-tuning skills. “It’s about getting mental preparation, getting the technique right and getting guys to feel good about their games.”Some of South Africa’s players, like Quinton de Kock, who scored a century despite taking ill during the first practice match, and JP Duminy, will already be in a good space, but there are others who will want to spend time in the middle before the first Test. Their openers, Stephen Cook and Dean Elgar, made 71 runs between them in four innings in the first warm-up game, and Faf du Plessis, who also batted twice, totalled 28. McKenzie is hopeful they can improve on that. “Ideally, you want everyone going into a Test match with a couple of runs under their bat,” he said. “We allow a lot of the guys individual preparation. A guy like Hashim, if he says he has had enough and he is in a good space, we will try and push him further down the order [in the warm-up games] or give him a rest so the others can get runs.”

Axar Patel took four wickets without conceding a run in six overs on the fourth day, spinning South Africa A out for 76 and securing victory for India A by an innings and 81 runs

ESPNcricinfo staff28-Aug-2015
ScorecardAxar Patel followed up his unbeaten 69 with a four-for to dismantle South Africa A•PTI

Left-arm spinner Axar Patel took four wickets without conceding a run in six overs on the fourth day in Wayanad, spinning South Africa A out for 76 in 31.4 overs and securing victory for India A by an innings and 81 runs.Axar’s spell of 6-6-0-4 gave him match figures of 9 for 92, to go with his 69 in India A’s innings.After having declared overnight on 417 for 8, with a first-innings lead of 157, India A’s push for victory was started by Axar, who bowled Reeza Hendricks for 1 in the fourth over. By the 14th over, South Africa A had lost their top three for 23 runs, Shardul Thakur and offspinner Jayant Yadav accounting for Gihahn Cloete and Stiaan van Zyl.There was little resistance from the visitors as Temba Bavuma, Omphile Ramela and Dane Vilas fell in quick succession, Axar accounting for two of those three wickets. Quinton de Kock was the top-scorer with 20, but he fell to Jayant two overs after Axar removed Dane Piedt. Once Karn Sharma trapped Lonwabo Tsotsobe lbw, South Africa A’s innings came to an end on 76 because last man Beuran Hendricks was absent hurt following an injury sustained while bowling.

Preview of the second Test between South Africa and Pakistan at Newlands

The Preview by Kanishkaa Balachandran13-Feb-2013

Match facts

February 14-18, 2013
Start time 1030 local (0830 GMT)Mohammad Irfan is likely to make his Test debut•AFP

Big picture

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.

Form guide

South Africa WWWWD
Pakistan LDDLW

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 AliSouth 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.

Stats and trivia

• Since their readmission to Test cricket, South Africa have a 17-3 win-loss record in Cape Town, with all three defeats coming against Australia. Since their last defeat to Australia in 2006, they’ve won seven out of ten Tests, and drawn the other three. Overall, South Africa have won 20 Tests here, six more than their next-best venue (The Wanderers – 14 wins)
• 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.
• Pakistan have lost to South Africa every time they’ve played in Cape Town: South Africa have won both Tests and all four ODIs.
• 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.

Quotes

“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.”
“I am really confident that these guys can fight back. Whenever we’ve had tough times, we have been able to come out of it.”
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Pakistan’s interim coach, Mohsin Khan, has said that his side is “desperate” to build on their unassailable series lead against England, and whitewash the world’s No. 1 Test side

ESPNcricinfo staff01-Feb-2012Pakistan’s interim coach, Mohsin Khan, has said that his side is “desperate” to build on their unassailable series lead against England, and whitewash the world’s No. 1 Test side.”I do not need to look at the rankings table to tell me that England is a very professional team, a very balanced team with no weaknesses at all in any facet of their cricket,” Mohsin told . “They will once again be tough opposition for us and we will not be taking the opposition lightly, we will have to work very hard and approach the third Test match just in the same way as we have approached the previous two Test matches.”We are desperate to see a three-nil margin, but no Test victory comes easy and nobody has a given right to win any Test match. I have a lot of respect for Andy Flower, Andrew Strauss and all of the England players and I am sure England will come back hard at us. I’m sure it will be another tough match with hard cricket played by both sides.”The final Test will be played in Dubai, where Pakistan won the first match comfortably, by 10 wickets. They then produced a dramatic 72-run triumph in Abu Dhabi, where their spinners’ tigerish defence of a paltry target of 145 meant England were shot out for 72. Mohsin likened the Abu Dhabi victory to Pakistan’s historic triumph in the 1992 World Cup.”As for gauging what this victory means, well I received an email from a friend of mine in Karachi after the victory which stated that he had been following Pakistan cricket for more than 30 years and the series-clinching victory in Abu Dhabi over England was the second occasion where he had felt so proud to be a Pakistani cricket fan, the first being the 1992 World Cup final victory in Australia, when Imran Khan was captain.”I took this comment from my friend as a great compliment as no doubt we have achieved a lot in Pakistan cricket over the years, but to come from the low points we reached in 2010 to the performance in Abu Dhabi was just magnificent. The biggest satisfaction and the most pleasing aspect was to see the unity and happiness in this team.”One of the striking features of Pakistan’s victory run was the composure they showed while defending a modest total, and Mohsin credited the senior players in the team for maintaining focus. “It was an exciting situation and quite tense also given that we only had 144 runs to play with,” Mohsin said. “Yes some of the boys were very excited, but it was crucial for the likes of Misbah-ul-Haq, Saeed Ajmal, Younis Khan and Mohammad Hafeez to keep the rest of the boys focussed and calm. Younis plays such a vital role in the team and really helps the captain on and off the field, his input is always very important and his opinions are always valued by everyone within the squad. Hafeez is another who keeps things in perspective and has a valuable role within the squad.”It was very important that the more experienced players kept the younger players concentrating on the job at hand and for them to not get too excited. We are blessed that we have a wonderful captain, someone with an ideal personality to lead, yet it is also very important for the generals around him to support him and assist him and that is exactly what occurred in Abu Dhabi. As the opposition wickets fell and the victory seemed a possibility then it was only natural for the excitement amongst my boys to increase and I think they did a good job with their conduct.”Left-arm spinner Abdur Rehman was Pakistan’s hero in the second Test, where he emerged from Saeed Ajmal’s shadow to produce a decisive spell of 6 for 25 in the second innings. Mohsin said Rehman’s success was a vindication of the improvements in Pakistan’s cricketing framework.”There is a lot of healthy competition now in Pakistan cricket for places in the starting XI in every format. Abdur Rehman is a perfect example of this way of thinking, he knows that he has worked extremely hard to get to the level he is at now and that he has no intention of letting his form dip and his fitness levels to drop. He is such a hard-working cricketer, he has a great work ethic and is always ready to do extra training and additional bowling. There are times when he just wants to practise his bowling continually for hours and to work on his fitness.”Two of the ‘elder statesmen’ in the squad, Younis Khan and Misbah-ul-Haq, know that age is catching up with them but you simply cannot criticise their levels of fitness, they work so hard in training and they are an asset to the team and shining examples for others to follow.”