Proteas or Pakistan: It ’ s come down to the fastest draw

BENONI ain’t big enough for both South Africa and Pakistan. By sundown today one of them will skulk out of town wondering what the hell happened.

The good, the bad and the ugly of the one-day series has come down to this: a deciding shootout at the grittiest ground in the country.

SA go into the match with one of their biggest guns, Graeme Smith, ruled out by an injured ankle. But Morne Morkel is likely to arrive on a white horse having overcome the hamstring problem that has kept him out of action for more than a month.

“Graeme’s record and his personality stands for itself, and he is a great role model to many of the players,” David Miller said yesterday. “But there are so many other senior guys to fill that spot.”

In mental terms, Miller is not wrong. Hashim Amla and AB de Villiers are well equipped to bridge the confidence gap that Smith will leave.

In physical terms, the man who will replace him is Quinton de Kock, who has yet to repay the faith shown in him.

Today ’ s high noon, on a ground not much bigger than a 10-gallon hat and on a pitch as unthreatening as a dead racoon, would be a fine time to do so.

Whether the regaining of Morkel negates the loss of Smith is an obtuse conundrum. But to have been without both of them would have been a shot through the heart of a team who are not the emphatically superior side they were during the test series.

Pakistan, by contrast, have taken ever more confident steps as they have made peace with the conditions. Mohammad Irfan has proved himself to be more than a circus freak, Saeed Ajmal remains the best spinner in the world, even on SA’s pitches, Shahid Afridi bristles with latent violence and Misbah-ulHaq is blessed with the perfect personality to lead this zestful bunch of temperamental talents.

“When they see a bit of sunlight at the end of the tunnel, their tails seem to wag,” Miller said.

Victory for SA today would make Willowmoore Park famous for something other than the place where Denis Compton scored a triple century in three hours and one minute.

Defeat would mean nothing that isn’t already true: Pakistan are dangerous, and the Proteas have one-day homework to do before the Champions Trophy in England in June.