Tri-series 'unlikely to happen'

2008-09-05 10:04

Johannesburg - The Proteas are exhausted after a long year of almost uninterrupted cricket and need a break, so the proposed Tri-Nations series between South Africa, Pakistan and another country is unlikely to take place.

That was the view expressed by Proteas coach Mickey Arthur on his arrival home from the cricket tour of England. South Africa won the four match Test series 2-1, and were whitewashed four-nil in the one-day international series.

"We have been at it since before the Twenty20 World Cup last September, and all that cricket has taken its toll," said Arthur. "The players -particularly those who played in both the Test and one-day series in England - all have niggles and they all need a complete rest. I don't know what would have happened if we'd had to get on a plane on Sunday to fly to Pakistan (for the postponed ICC Champions Trophy). Certainly there would have been a number of players who would not have been able to go."

Pakistan has proposed replacing the Champions Trophy with a Tri-Nations series in South Africa, involving South Africa, Pakistan and India or Sri Lanka, but Arthur said this was very unlikely to take place.

The proposed tour is not part of the ICC's Future Tours Programme, and would have to be accepted by the South African Cricketers' Association (Saca).

"We have spoken to Cricket South Africa (CSA) and told them what we plan to do before our next international commitment, and we have let them know that we do not want this extra tournament," said Arthur.

Rigorous fitness programme

He said he was confident that captain Graeme Smith would be back in action by the time of the series against Kenya and Bangladesh, starting in late October. Smith returned home earlier this week for treatment for tennis elbow.

"We are not going to rush him back into action, though," said Arthur. "All the players have been told to rest until the end of this month, and then they have each been given a rigorous fitness programme to prepare for the next season.

"I would like them all to play at least one game for their franchises before we head to Australia in December."

Regarding the changes to the itinerary for the tour of Australia, brought about by the Twenty20 Champions League, Arthur said it had been necessary to compromise, because of the amount of money South African cricket would derive from the Champions League.

"We had to accommodate it," he said. "The changes are not too bad. Most of the team will arrive in Australia on December 6, and those who were involved in the Champions League will arrive on December 10.

"I'm not too worried about three Tests back to back, because we have plenty of time between those Tests to recuperate. We have five days between the Tests in Perth and Melbourne, and the New Year's Test has been put back to January 3. It could even work in our favour, if we get off to a good start and get some momentum going."

For now, though, Arthur is going home to East London to take a complete break from cricket, although he will also start planning how to get South African one-day cricket back on track.

- SAPA