Third Test, Cape Town: South Africa v England
Venue: Newlands Dates: 3-7 January Start time: 0830 GMT
Coverage: Listen to Test Match Special on BBC Radio Four Longwave, Radio 5 live sports extra, the Red Button and BBC Sport website; text commentary online and on mobile phones. Also live on Sky Sports We will learn much about the character of both England and South Africa over the next five days. Graeme Smith's South Africa have been savagely criticised here for the timorous manner in which they subsided in the second Test in Durban, and they appear to be at crossroads.  | In any other country in the world, where cricket considerations are all that matter, Ntini would definitely not be playing in this Test |
Coach Mickey Arthur is known to be interested in taking a job at an English county as his shelf-life with the national team appears to be expiring, and Smith is now in his eighth year as captain. Again, that is a responsibility that one can only handle for so long - some individuals longer than others - but what we do know from recent experience is that once a captain begins to feel that he has had enough, he will not hang around. Watching Smith sink to his knees as his team collapsed around him in Durban created an image of a captain standing on the burning deck; like Arthur, people are starting to speculate that Smith's time to jump is fast approaching. In both cases, much will depend on how their team rally this week. There is the Makhaya Ntini issue to be resolved - the rumour mill has been hard at work, even to the point of suggestions that the Minister for Sport has been sounded out for his permission to drop the fast bowler such is the political sensitivity surrounding it all. Sometimes figures can be misleading, but Ntini's haul of only two wickets in the series so far is not a harsh reflection of how he has bowled. In any other country in the world, where cricket considerations are all that matter, Ntini would definitely not be playing in this Test, but South Africa is not an ordinary country. England are very obviously playing down their position, and certainly do not want to take anything for granted. | 606: DEBATE |
Paul Collingwood's recovery from a dislocated finger - enough, at least, to bat but probably not to field at slip to the fast bowlers - is a boost and avoids the need for Michael Carberry to be pressed into making a hurried debut on the back of two net practices. How this squad has become so ill-balanced to the extent that just one injury to a batsman requires a replacement to be flown in from England is for the selectors to explain, but it is clear that in Luke Wright and Adil Rashid, England have two players in their ranks that, while promising, the management feel are currently unselectable. South Africa have beaten England in the last three Tests at Newlands and have it about them to turn last week's defeat on its head. But with politics, weariness and their inability to play Graeme Swann all in the mix, England have a real chance of ensuring that they cannot lose the series from here.
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