Zim gear up for Paarl pink ball battle
ZIMBABWE will not have to deal with AB de Villiers in their tour match against a South African Invitation XI that starts in Paarl, Cape Town today, but they are likely to have to find a way past Dale Steyn.
De Villiers‚ who has not played a test for almost two years‚ pulled out of the three day game yesterday with a lower back problem.
But Steyn‚ who was sidelined in November last year with shoulder and muscular injuries‚ remains in the mix.
Both are in South Africa’s squad for the four-day‚ daynight test against the Zimbabweans at St George’s Park‚ which starts on Tuesday.
Perhaps because he will not have to face Steyn with the new ball‚ the prospect of seeing the fast bowler charge in excited Graeme Cremer.
“He brings a lot to cricket in general‚” the Zimbabwe squad’s captain said.
“He’s a good guy and he’s one of the better bowlers around.
“It will be good to have him back‚ not only just for this test match but going forward in his career.”
Today’s game‚ which is scheduled to start at 3.30pm‚ is Zimbabwe’s first with the pink ball that will be used in the test.
“We’ve had two sessions under lights with the pink ball‚” Cremer said. “It was good to see how it reacts.
“This three-day game we will look to get all our gameplans and tactics ready.
“At twilight time, a little bit more seems to happen with the ball off the wicket‚ and we’ll be careful of that.”
Zimbabwe have lost all three of the tests they have played in South Africa by an innings‚ and have won only 11 of their 104 tests all told. But Cremer did a decent marketing job for next week’s match nonetheless.
“The game will move that much quicker because it’s only four days‚” he said.
“It will be good to watch and good for the crowd.
“What a lot of the so-called bigger teams will do is bat the other team right out of the game.
“The bigger teams will have to score quicker and give the lesser teams more opportunity to get wickets‚ and the game will move quite quickly.”