WORCESTER (England), July 28: South Africa coach Mickey Arthur has no doubts Andre Nel can fill the gap left by the injured Dale Steyn when the third Test against England starts at Edgbaston on Wednesday.

Fast bowler Steyn is out of the match after breaking his thumb on the first day of the tour game against Bangladesh ‘A’ which ended in a draw at New Road here on Sunday.

Steyn took seven wickets in the Proteas’ Test win at Headingley.

His loss is a blow to South Africa as they seek a first series win in England since their re-admission to international cricket.

But in fellow quick Nel, someone who often attracts as much publicity for his verbal spats with opposing batsmen as he does his bowling, Arthur is confident the Proteas have an ideal stand-in.

“Any time Andre plays for South Africa he’s fired up. I can’t wait to see him bowl hard. I think he’s going to do really well,” Arthur told the BBC.

“We’ve backed Andre a huge amount over the last couple of months and I’ve got a feeling he is going to come through this one fantastically.

“It just shows that when you plan there has to be a queue and some succession in place.

“We have the ability now to lose one guy and be able to bring back a guy who is a hardened Test-match campaigner. So we are fortunate to do that, that’s how we structured our team.”—AFP