Brendon McCullum will open the batting in his first Test as captain
after he opted to make first use of a dark Newlands pitch with a fair
amount of grass on it. The Test strip has not been used since last year
this time but is expected to play predictably - with something in it for
the bowlers on the first day, it flattening out later on and turn in
the latter stages.
New Zealand were originally going to open with Peter Fulton but a knee
injury ruled him out of the tour. Danile Fylnn will bat at No. 5 with
James Franklin and BJ Watling at six and seven respectively. Chris
Martin has made a return to the side as New Zealand chose to field three
seamers and one spinner - Jeetan Patel.
South Africa went in with an unchanged XI to the one that beat Australia
in Perth. Jacques Rudolph, as expected, had to give up his place to
Dean Elgar while Vernon Philander was passed fit. Robin Peterson is the
only spinner in the squad and will play his first Test at home since
making his comeback.
An important milestone awaits on the first morning. Dale Steyn is one scalp away from his 300th Test wicket.
New Zealand 1 Brendon McCullum, 2 Martin Guptill, 3 Kane
Williamson, 4 Dean Brownlie, 5 Daniel Flynn, 6 James Franklin, 7 BJ
Watling, 8 Doug Bracewell, 9 Jeetan Patel, 10 Trent Boult, 11 Chris
Martin
South Africa: 1 Graeme Smith, 2 Alviro Petersen, 3 Hashim Amla,
4 Jacques Kallis, 5 AB de Villiers, 6 Dean Elgar, 7 Faf du Plessis, 8
Robin Peterson, 9 Vernon Philander, 10 Dale Steyn, 11 Morne Morkel
0 comments:
Post a Comment