December 25, 2002	Wednesday	Shawwal 20, 1423

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DURBAN, Dec 24: South Africa will be seeking to snatch the ICC World Test Championship when they take on a depleted Pakistan team in the first Test starting at Kingsmead on Thursday.

If South Africa win the two-match series they will overtake Australia on the ICC log, despite having been heavily beaten in home and away series by the Australians last season.

“It’s testament to how well we’ve played around the world,” said South African captain Shaun Pollock. We beat India in India and Australia couldn’t. And we beat the West Indies in the West Indies.”

South Africa’s average points tally is boosted by series wins against Zimbabwe and Bangladesh, while Australia have not yet played series against the two lowly nations.

The only team not to have been defeated by South Africa in a recent series at home, apart from Australia, are Pakistan, who shared a three-match series five seasons ago. It is because of that result that South Africa can improve their points tally, while Australia cannot gain extra points from their current series against England.

Pakistan will start the series as underdogs after being trounced 4-1 in a one-day series, followed by an unimpressive performance in a three-day warm-up match against South Africa ‘A’ in Pietermaritzburg in which they were facing defeat when rain ended play early.

Skipper and fast bowler Waqar Younis will carry a huge burden for the tourists following the decision of fellow veteran Wasim Akram not to play in the Tests and the withdrawal because of a knee injury of Shoaib Akhtar.

The promising Mohammad Sami did not play against South Africa ‘A’ because of a groin injury but is expected to be fit for the Test. Fellow fast bowler Mohammad Zahid is set to make a comeback to Test cricket after a four-year absence because of a back injury which required surgery. Zahid took five for 43 against South Africa ‘A’.

Also in line for a recall is Fazle Akbar, who made his debut against South Africa at Kingsmead five years ago but has only been selected for three Tests since then. Fazle was called up as a replacement because of Pakistan’s injury problems.

Pakistan have reason to be concerned about the form of their batsmen on a pitch which usually helps the fast bowlers. Their openers, Salim Elahi and Taufiq Umar, are both inexperienced, while their middle order stars, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Yousuf Youhana and Younis Khan, performed below their best during the one-day series.

Waqar, meanwhile, rallied his side on Tuesday by warning his critics that his team will come good and insists that the class of his senior players will shine through against the hosts.

“I’m not worried at all about the batting,” said Waqar.

“We have some world class batsmen in Inzamam-ul-Haq, Yousuf Youhana and Younis Khan.

“Also the youngsters Taufiq Umar and Salim Elahi have done really well in both Zimbabwe and South Africa.

“After playing so many One-day Internationals, it’s now just a matter of discipline when it comes to the five-day game,” added the skipper.

South Africa go into the match on a streak of five successive wins, which started at Kingsmead last season when they defeated Australia in the final Test to end a string of five losses against the current champions. South Africa have won all four of their matches this season, two each against Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

With veteran fast bowler Allan Donald retired from Test cricket, Mornantau Hayward was recalled after missing the one-day series. Because he has not played much recently, his fitness will be assessed before he takes his place. Steve Elworthy is on standby.

Also recalled is left-arm spinner Nicky Boje, who was dropped from the last two matches of the one-day series. Boje seems likely to play following South Africa’s experience five years ago when they went into the Durban Test against Pakistan without a spinner and lost by 29 runs.

TEAMS (FROM):

SOUTH AFRICA: Shaun Pollock (captain), Graeme Smith, Herschelle Gibbs, Gary Kirsten, Jacques Kallis, Neil McKenzie, Boeta Dippenaar, Mark Boucher, Nicky Boje, Andrew Hall, Makhaya Ntini, Mornantau Hayward, Steve Elworthy.

PAKISTAN: Waqar Younis (captain), Taufiq Umar, Salim Elahi, Younis Khan, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Yousuf Youhana, Faisal Iqbal, Abdur Razzaq, Kamran Akmal, Saqlain Mushtaq, Mohammad Zahid, Shahid Afridi, Mohammad Sami, Hasan Raza, Fazle Akbar.

UMPIRES: Steve Bucknor (West Indies) and Srinivas Venkataraghavan (India).

TV UMPIRE: Ian Howell (South Africa).

MATCH REFEREE: Gundappa Viswanath (India).—AFP