GARY KIRSTEN Left-hand batsman

FACTFILE DOB: 23.11.1967 Team: Western Province Test debut: v Australia, Melbourne 1993

The oldest player in the team, Kirsten remains a vital member of South Africa's batting line-up in the five-day game.

This was proved last October when an innings of 150 against Bangladesh made him the first batsman to score a century against all the other nine Test-playing countries.

The following month Kirsten also became the first South African to reach 6,000 runs in Tests, not bad for a player supposedly lacking the flair of elder brother Peter, who made a hundred against England on the 1994 tour.

He has a tenacity few can equal and that, allied to a sound technique, enables him to play long innings, no matter what the conditions.

His finest hour came against England in Durban four years ago when he saved his side from defeat by batting for 14-and-a-half hours to make 275, the second longest innings in Test history.