da brdice： Mickey Arthur, South Africa’s coach, expressed his disappointment at theNewlands pitch, but insisted that his side would go all out for the winthat will clinch the series
Dileep Premachandran in Cape Town02-Jan-2007
Silver lining: Shaun Pollock bowled an immaculate line and was the only one to consistently trouble the Indians © Getty Images
Mickey Arthur, South Africa’s coach, expressed his disappointment at theNewlands pitch, but insisted that his side would go all out for the winthat will clinch the series. He commended his bowlers for having kept theIndian scoring rate under control, and hoped that a couple ofbreakthroughs with the new ball on the second morning could swing the gamehis team’s way.”We are disappointed with the wicket,” he said, not bothering to dress uphis despair in diplomatic terms. “It certainly isn’t what we were lookingfor. But you’ve got to play on whatever track you get.”The new-ball bowlers didn’t make the Indian openers play enough, butArthur said that he was satisfied with the effort put in, adding that theshort-pitched tactics had been worthwhile given the manner in which Indiacapitulated at Kingsmead.”We bowled pretty decently as a unit,” he said. “India haven’t got awaywith the game. We still have the new ball and if we can strike early blowstomorrow morning, we’ll be really happy.”I don’t think the Indian batting had much confidence after Durban. We hadto try and expose the chinks with the short ball. The follow-up deliverywas always the important one.”Even if the second new ball, now 10 overs old, does the trick, the onuswill be on South Africa’s batsmen to pile up a formidable total to stay inthe game. “We realise that our first innings with the bat is really goingto be crucial,” said Arthur, though his reading of the pitch seemed alittle bizarre.”Against New Zealand, it was a similar pitch,” he said, perhaps forgettingthat that Test had been played in late April, with winter imminent. “Itturned on day one and then went on to become a good track. We areobviously hoping that’s the case.”Though Paul Harris came through well on his debut, troubling most batsmenduring the course of a tidy 24 overs, the sharp turn out of the roughmight have sent a few shudders down South African spines. “We were justtelling him after play, that we didn’t expect him to bowl the most numberof overs,” said Arthur. “Especially not on the opening day of a Test inSouth Africa.”Arthur praised Wasim Jaffer’s innings and said that India’s decision toopen with Dinesh Karthik hadn’t caught his team cold. “We saw him in thenets in Durban, and were pretty sure that he might open here,” he said. Asfor what lay ahead, Arthur remained cautiously optimistic.”If we can restrict them to less than 380, we’ll be very happy,” he said.”We’re still looking for a win and will try and go as far as possible toachieve that. Our mindset is to win. We won’t hang on for a draw.”If the odd puff of dust late this evening was any indication, they mighthave to do just that against Anil Kumble.