Proteas banking on Test repeat

28 August 2008

Jacques Kallis is confident South Africa can arrest their poor NatWest Series form

South Africa were given a lesson by England on the first two days of this summer’s Test series - and are sticking to the same formula on the limited-overs leg of the tour.

Coach Mickey Arthur and stand-in captain Jacques Kallis are confident their team can fight back after a shambolic defeat in the second one-day international at Trent Bridge, which saw them go 2-0 down in the NatWest Series with only three matches to play.

Should they do so, they will be pulling off an action replay of the Test series - in which they conceded a first-innings deficit of 346 yet somehow chiselled out a draw at Lord’s, and then won the next two matches.

On the eve of the third ODI at the Brit Oval, South Africa confirmed they will be without injured captain Graeme Smith for the remainder of the series.

But Arthur and Smith’s stand-in, Kallis, are still talking an optimistic game.

South Africa were bowled out for 83 on the way to a 10-wicket mauling completed before there was any need for the use of floodlights in Nottingham.

A sell-out crowd felt short-changed and made their feelings known - resulting in an experience that has made Kallis determined to put things right.

“The way people reacted when we walked off the field and they booed, that’s more than enough motivation for the guys to put in a big performance,” he said.

“We’ve got to make sure we learn from our mistakes and move forward.”

Kallis and Micky Arthur called on the players to improve their performance after the hammering at Trent Bridge

Apart from their Test comeback this year, South Africa also have ‘previous’ in one-day series - having twice gone behind but prevailed eventually in Pakistan.

“We’ve been in this situation before,” Kallis recalls. We turned that around, so we fully believe we can do it again.

Arthur never had any doubts, once it was clear Smith could not continue, that Kallis - who has led his country seven times in ODIs - was the man for the job.

“Jacques was obvious. He’s done it before; he’s our most experienced player,” Arthur reasoned. “It was a very easy decision.”

It was Kallis, however, who needed a little extra time, having publicly voiced his qualms just last year about selection policy.

“I took a day to think about it,” he admitted. “My biggest stand was people getting involved in selection who shouldn’t have been.

"That’s now been sorted out - the president’s veto doesn’t exist any more.

“So I just had to sit down and make sure I had my mind right, and it is something I’m really proud to do.”

Arthur always anticipated a contingency plan, in the knowledge that Smith’s tennis elbow might not allow him to see out the summer.

Arthur is backing Graeme Smith to return following his struggle this summer with a tennis elbow injury

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“Graeme had a cortisone injection this morning. He probably shouldn’t have played from the end of the Edgbaston Test,” Arthur conceded.

“But testimony to the captain we have - he got himself out there, took injections and worked through a lot of anti-inflammatories.”

The hope was Smith might get his team into a favourable position, and then take the rest he needed.

That scenario has spectacularly failed to materialise - a fact acknowledged by Arthur when he added ruefully: “We were trying to pull up a bit of a buffer early on in the one-day series and then thought we could leave him out towards the back end.

“But it’s just got too bad. He pretty much can’t grip a bat with his top hand now, so it’s best for us to get him home, rehab and get him ready for what is a huge summer for us.”

Arthur remains hopeful, but accepts to beat the new-look England on their home patch is no easy task for anyone, with or without conceding a 2-0 start.

“We’ve got some work to do. We’re by no means out of this series. We can still come back and win this 3-2, but we’re going to have to play really well,” he said.

“I think England are a very good one-day side. When they’re all firing and all fit, they have specialists in their team that make them one of the best one-day sides in the world.

“They’re looking a very, very good side - and they are being very, very well led at the moment.”