It's South African Scything Pace Vs Indian Batting Flair
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It's South African scything pace vs Indian batting flair From R. Mohan "Cricket is a hard game played with a hard ball," cricket had to leam. "Pakistan and the West Indies was the Indian tour manager Amrit Mathur's com- have the finest attacks in cricket today. So losing DURBAN, Nov. 12. ment at the banquet. This was the line South African the way we did was not a shock. We are better off Friday the 13th may not be the most auspicious team manager Alan Jordan pounced upon. Appar- for the experience," said Wessels just as he praised day for the momentous return of Test cricket to ently, they are taking the line very seriously. The India as the experienced side his team would be up South Africa. The march of history — Test cricket is moment the opening ceremony, featuring among against. 115 years old and probably ageing more quickly other things the release of 3,000 doves is over, it's The home captain was pleased at the way the these days given its proliferation — does not, how- going to be a hard game played with a hard ball. pitch has been prepared for the Test. The mower ever, permit the recognition of such minor distinc- And none may have seemed as hard as the one in had been on this morning, which was apparent now tions of numerology and superstition. The game is this series as a battle of pace is all set to begin. that the' pitch can be distinguished from the outfield. too glad to have its nine-member club working full This Test and series is going to be all about pace The surface is rock hard, dry and likely to offer a swing to wish to bother unduly about what may be attacks and what they can do to dismantle opposing good deal of bounce. If there is any turn at all, it will considered unlucky by some. batting and to damage their reputations. come later rather than soon. This should suit the Not without some pomp and pageantry will such Aesthetically, it may not be pleasing to see a series home side's formula of Allan Donald-led pace get- an event be sent on its way. "Set the ball rolling" dominated by pace bowlers with their long runups ting the better of Indian batting flair. may never have sounded as .appropriate as now and their run-denying over rates that will never ex- The media event of the day was at the Technikorv when everything is poised for the launch of a signifi- ceed the regulation 15 per hour. There may be ground where Donald passed his fitness test He cant Test and series. Kingsmead, a noted arena on some monotony involved in such a contest in which bowled flat out in the presence of South African which has unfolded some of South African cricket there will be as many as seven pace bowlers in the coach Mike Proctor and personal coach Bob history, notable as in the home team's thumping win match who will take a lion's load of the work. Woolmer and declared himself "100 per cent fit." over Bill Lawry's Australians and not so notable as Modem cricket This, however, is modern cricket, The retinue of bowler, coaches,, physio Craig Smith, in the defeat the hands of England in an earlier Test, in fact, the very definition of how the game has chairman of selectors Peter Pollock and selector S. will be the venue for this momentous occasion to- gone over the last few years, specifically in the last K. Reddy was at the university ground just after the morrow morning. 18 years or so. Even 22 years ago when South Af- appointed hour of 10-00 a.m. The press contingent was large, the public fitness test seemingly having a greater relevance to the Test than the routine prac- tice of rival teams at Kingsmead. What can one make of a South African side without its spearhead, its assegai? Ajay Jadeja (left) and W. V. Raman seen at the Kingsmead nets on the eve of the historic The South African system of naming the playing India-South Africa Test on Thursday. — Fax photos: V. V Krishnan XI in advance and so sparing tension for others was in sharp contrast to the touring team's dilemma over team selection. Yet, it is not as if selection is the big crisis here for the tourists. To avoid the pitfalls of Australia where the batting came good only in patches has to be the overwhelming priority. To do that, the team would have to unlearn much before it starts learning anew. It seemed hardly important whether Jadeja should be preferred over Praveen Amre, though this may have some bearing on the batting order with Woorkeri Raman being able to take his more natu- ral place in the middle order rather than being bur- dened with the task of opening the innings. But it appears now that Raman is being left out and Amre included in the middle order, making it two debutants of the six batsmen. What will have a greater bearing on the Test and series is how much the once renowned batting lineup can do towards scoring sufficient runs off the home pace attack to give the bowlers the chance they did not quite have in Australia. The leaders of the batting, with the glorious ex- ception of Sanjay Manjrekar, did not do enough in Harare to restore the reputation to a state preceding the 0-4 rout in Australia. The allrounders chipped in with contributions off the bat to support Manjrekar and the ignominy of following on and the fuller one of a shock defeat at the hands of a debutant nation were avoided. This is a different series though much like in India the stadium is still getting the finishing touches. The umpire's room is ready and equipped with the elec- tronic aid of a normal TV replay to assist those who have doubts in the middle with regard to run outs, stumpings and hit wicket. All other matters like rota- tion of umpires, to be on a day-to-day basis, were attended to before the meeting with the ICC match referee (Clive Lloyd) whose superfluity is a sore point, particularly so because the number of um- pires has also been increased from two to three. An incentive of 1,00,000 rands (about Rs 11 lakhs) has been added to the four-Test series with the winning team in each Test to receive 12,000 rands and the losing team 6,000 rands and the win- Judge for yourself, Allan Donald seems to indicate to Craig Smith (left) and his coach Bob ner of the series to get a further bonus of 20.000 Woolmer as he charges in to bowl at the nets to prove his fitness at the Technikon ground in rands In the event of a draw the 18,000 rands on offer for a Test will be added to the kitty of the win- Durban on Thursday. ner at the end of the series. March of time: If some are seen rubbing their rica played Australia at home before being banish- This is in keeping with the philosophy of positive eyes in disbelief at the launch of this first ever Test ed by the ICC, it was a matter of how many wickets results which has always governed cricket in South series between India and South Africa they may be Peter Pollock, Mike Proctor and Trevor Goddard Africa though the need to catch a mail boat to Eng- forgiven for not being able to cope with the march took That there were runs aplenty for such gen- land once stopped a timeless Test in this land. Now- of history. It is possible to say that much has chang- iuses as Greme Pollock and Barry Richards against adays, 450 overs is thought to be more than suffi- ed in the Republic of South Africa while at the same the Tikes of a drained McKenzie and Connolly may cient to get a result though there is no knowing time some may aver that nothing has changed. have helped complete a decimation of the Aussies. what effect the weather — thunderstorms being forecast for evening-night over the next two days — There is a lot to be said on both sides but the fact The 1969-70 South African team, led by Dr. Ali will have on the Test. remains that cricket is stealing a march while so- Bacher, who is the brain behind the hastening of the ciety may still be lagging behind recognition of the multiracial cricket process, was India (likely): M. Azharuddin (captain), Ravi Shas- International cricket is here to stay as much as said to be the best team on Planet Earth. The cur- tri, Ajay Jadeja, Sanjay Manjrekar, Sachin South Africa's return to the fold is promising to be a rent home team may pale in comparison though Tendulkar, Praveen Amre, Kapil Dev, Manoj permanent feature in a nine-nation game that may such comparisons across eras cannot but be odi- Prabhakar, Kiran More, Javagal Srinath and Anil welcome more countries as time rolls by. Time may ous. The present team may be weaker — evidence Kumble. have stood still for South Africa in the last two dec- having come in the Test match lost at Bridgetown, ades. But all that is behind us now and it is the fu- Barbados after the side dominated 12 of 15 South Africa: Kepler Wessels (captain), Andrew ture which beckons.