TWO down and one to go does not really paint a positive picture of the Pakistani tourists who, having lost the first two Tests of the three-match series, will obviously play for their lost and dented pride by a marauding South African outfit which continues to grow in its reputation of hanging their opposition dry and maintain their top-ranking in the game intact.

At the SuperSport Park they have a proud record, in fact, better than any other ground in their country. Considering that this venue was first used in 1994 against England after South Africa came back from isolation, it has not seen the home team lose except in January 2000 when both England and South Africa forfeited their first and second innings respectively to provide England with a two-wicket win in bizarre circumstances after three days of the match were lost to weather.

Both the South African captain Hansie Cronje and England skipper Nasser Hussain were commended for their efforts to keep the spirit of the game alive and declaring their innings for the good of the game. Later it was discovered that match was a ‘fix’, the first-ever fix Test match in history. Cronje was the man responsible who was reported to have been paid by a local bookie Marlon Aronstam 53,000 Rands (£5,000) and a leather jacket for his wife.

South Africa, having won the series already 2-0, had come to Centurion for the final kill. Having batted on the first day Cronje had declared the first innings on 248 on the fifth day after three days were lost to bad weather. He was approached by the bookie half-an-hour before start of play on final day to convince Hussain to forfeit his first innings assuring him that Cronje will also forfeit his second innings to make a game of it.

Nasser first strongly declined the offer but also after a second thought decided to declare his first innings on 0-0 and Cronje also obliged by forfeiting his second innings without batting leaving England an attainable target on a pitch drying up with moisture underneath.

England reached the target with five overs to spare and with two wickets remaining. Aronstam had backed both the sides at long odds. He must have made a kill as did Cronje. It was the first match in which ‘fixing’ was proven when the King’s Commission grinded Cronje after he was banned for life by the United Cricket Board of South Africa (UCBSA) managing director Dr Ali Bacher when found that he and some of his team-mates had accepted money from Indian bookies during their tour of India not much later.

Disgraced Cronje later died in mysterious circumstances in a plane crash.

That Centurion Test still haunts the South Africans but results otherwise have been very heartening. Sri Lanka have been defeated here four times and India and Pakistan once each. In the last two Tests India and Sri Lanka had lost by an innings and South Africa have won five of their last eight matches by imposing margins.

And in four of last five Tests the first innings total has not reached past 250.

South Africa and Graeme Smith would obviously be looking for a whitewash and will be firing on all cylinders and at full pace keeping an eye also on what goes on not far from the ground in a Pretoria Magistrate’s Court where Oscar Pistorius, the Paralympian sprinter, accused of alleged murder of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp will be appearing once again to plead for bail,. Besides losing his head in a rage he does not have any legs to stand. He did not have it anyway. He is sulking now in a police prison and locals doubt that a bail will be granted.

Like the South Africans, Misbah-ul-Haq’s men will have little concern for Pistorius but will be more worried about how they present themselves in this match to escape a clean sweep. From the start of this tour almost eight members of the touring party have their wives and children travelling with them, even five and six month old infants in the pram.

This certainly has not been a wise move to allow the players on a mission to prove themselves against the best team in the world. Usually families of the players join them on the last leg of any tour. But this is something else. Not good for the mental make-up of the players, I suppose.