 The South Africans are hurting real badly after their loss to England in the second
test match at Kingsmead at Durban. Such was the intensity of the collapse in the
second innings, that it had all the critics pointing fingers at the South African
captain with the likes of Clive Rice even pointing to an axe for Graeme Smith
for lacking direction.
However, the chief of selectors, Mike Procter, has said that he backs
the team but the side needs to comeback strongly and show some character. South
Africa is down 0-1 in the series with two games remaining which makes it mandatory
for them to win the third test match that will be played in Cape Town on 3 January.
Procter has said that while the defeat will rankle most of those involved with
the South Africa cricket, there was no need for panic measures. However,
he did add, that this was applicable "for now anyway", thus leaving
the door open for a potential deluge in case the side went on to underperform
in the rest of the games.
He also added that the most thing for a team which has just lost a game is
to bounce back from a defeat like this in such a short time - they had three
days to prepare - and show the character needed to do so. He said, ""We
are only talking about one Test match, the guys played well at Centurion and
were one wicket away from a very good victory. One defeat isn't a call for drastic
changes."
South Africa has been struggling with their form in the recent times, with
only one test match win out of the six games that they had played in. To add
to their woes, the performances in the shorter version of the game haven't been
great either, what with the losses in the Champions Trophy and the series
against England earlier. They had lost in the semi-finals of the ICC World T20
and tied the T20Is with England, 1-1.
Makhaya Ntini's form has been under a lot of scrutiny as well. He has played
in both the test matches of the series, but has been far from being efficient.
He had picked up only two wickets in the first and went wicketless in the second
game to leave the English to negotiate with only the threat of Morne Morkel.
There is a reasonable chance that Fredel de Wet will be played in this game
instead.
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