September 4, 2003	Thursday	Rajab 6, 1424

Please Visit our Sponsor (Ads open in separate window)

LONDON, Sept 3: South Africa goes into Thursday’s final cricket Test against England with a chance to become the most successful visitors from the republic since the country was readmitted to international play after the fall of apartheid.

But skipper Graeme Smith says his team, with a 2-1 lead, will not be swayed by the expectation of becoming the most successful South African team in England since 1991.

“We’ve got a great chance to make history and do some great things,” Smith told The Associated Press. “We’re not over the moon yet. There is tough Test cricket lying ahead for us but we will not give into pressure.”

Two illustrious South African sides under Kepler Wessels in 1994 and Hansie Cronje in 1998 failed to beat England.

But Smith, the country’s youngest captain at 22 years, has molded the young and inexperienced side into a tough outfit to get the better of an England side against all odds.

South Africa won the second Test at Lord’s by an innings before losing the next Test on a poor surface at Trent Bridge to concede the advantage.

But despite missing the star allrounder Shaun Pollock, who went home for the birth of his daughter, Gemma, South Africa fought back from adversity to reclaim the series lead at Headingley.

Smith said the series win will go a long way to re-establish the game’s popularity in the wake of match-fixing allegations and South Africa’s first-round exit in the World Cup it hosted in February.

“The new team wanted to become the people’s team in South Africa,” said Smith, who replaced Pollock as captain after the World Cup debacle. “And a series win is a great way to start that.

“Us and them (public) have been through a difficult stage. All the guys have stuck with us through thick and thin. Hope we can give something to feel good about and shout about.”

Despite all the optimism, Smith knows Michael Vaughan’s team still remains capable of robbing the tourists a place in history.

“They don’t want to be the first side to lose to South Africa in modern era. They’ve got that motivation, and would also want to give (Alec) Stewart a big send off. But having said that, our boys are hungry to develop a winning culture.”

Although England has covered its options with two spinners _ Ashley Giles and rookie Gareth Batty _ Smith said it was very unlikely his team would play two spinners.

Both teams will relish a decent test-match pitch after substandard surfaces marred the last two tests.

“Test cricket should be played on good surfaces and the skillful side wins,” said Smith.

The tourists are expected to make at least two changes to the side that won at Headingley by 191 runs. Pollock and leftarm spinner Paul Adams are likely to replace seamer Dewald Pretorius and Monde Zondeki.

Teams:

England (from): Michael Vaughan (captain), Marcus Trescothick, Mark Butcher, Graham Thorpe, Ed Smith, Alec Stewart (wicketkeeper), Andrew Flintoff, Ashley Giles, Steve Harmison, James Anderson, Kabir Ali, Martin Bicknell and Gareth Batty.

South Africa: Graeme Smith (captain), Herschelle Gibbs, Gary Kirsten, Jacques Kallis, Jacques Rudolph, Neil McKenzie, Mark Boucher (wicketkeeper), Shaun Pollock, Andrew Hall, Paul Adams or Robin Peterson, Makhaya Ntini.

Umpires: Simon Taufel, Australia, and Srinivas Venkataraghavan, India.

Match referee: Ranjan Madugalle, Sri Lanka.—APP/AP