Domingo not duly fazed at Test pitch demons

RUSSELL Domingo has compared the conditions at Bellerive Oval, where Australia and South Africa clash in the second Test on Saturday, to what players could expect to encounter in New Zealand – and geography is in his corner.

The Waca in Perth, where the first Test ended on Monday in victory for South Africa by 177 runs, is 4 129 kilometres to the west of Tasmania’s capital.

Dunedin on New Zealand’s south island is a comparatively mere 1 864 kilometres to Hobart’s east.

Well might South Africa’s coach want to describe Hobart in terms his players might understand: they have never played a Test there.

South Africa have played five oneday internationals at the ground, starting in December 1993, and current squad members Hashim Amla and J P Duminy are among the stalwarts of those games. So are Neil McKenzie and Charl Langeveldt, the batting and bowling coaches.

So, what can the South Africans expect on Saturday?

“This wicket suits bowlers on overcast days and flattens out on sunny days,” Joe Mennie, the fast bowler who played for the Hobart Hurricanes in this year’s Big Bash T20 league and who is likely to make his Test debut on Saturday, said yesterday.

“There is a bit of nip off the pitch if you are prepared to put your back into it.”

That makes the Bellerive pitch sound like every other surface in the game, which is good news for the South Africans – they are unlikely to be caught out if the conditions are indeed bog standard.