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Proteas keep winning team
19/01/2008 14:17 - (SA)
Centurion - There will be no surprises in the South African team for the first MTN One-day International (ODI) against the West Indies at Supersport Park on Sunday.
"We'll almost definitely stick with the team that beat New Zealand in our last ODI in Cape Town last year," explained Proteas coach Mickey Arthur on Saturday. "The only change will be Justin Ontong coming in for Herschelle Gibbs, who is unavailable for personal reasons." "We will however include Albie Morkel in a 12-man squad and see what the conditions are like tomorrow."
He said there was no thought at this stage of playing Morne Morkel, who has just returned from a 12-week lay-off with a foot injury." "Everything comes to those who wait," he said. "Obviously we wanted to see him a lot through the summer, but that was not to be. There's a lot of cricket going forward to we'll see a lot of him working in tandem with Dale Steyn in the future. Morne needs a little more bowling - he needs to be with us a little longer, and we need to be fair to the boys who did the job for us against New Zealand as well.
"We've got to be consistent in our selection - that's what everybody asks for and that's what they get." Arthur said they wanted to get a good start in the five-match series, after having to play catch-up in the Test series when the West Indies won the first Test.
"Coming from behind is always tough. We've had to do it more than we would like in the past, so it's good to start with one in the bank, albeit a Pro20 game." He said there was a bit of concern about the lack of experience in the middle order, with AB de Villiers going up the order to open with Graeme Smith in the absence of Gibbs. "But there's a lot of experience coming behind them (Ontong and JP Duminy) in Mark Boucher and Shaun Pollock. That weighed it a little bit in their favour. "But also, when is the right time (to introduce less experienced players)?
These guys have been around, they've played cricket. I've had a chat to the boys and asked the junior players to step up. The senior players have carried the team through a number of tight situations of late. I need a little bit more from the junior players, because there are a couple of them who are not so junior any more and it's time for them to start taking control and start commanding their positions." The West Indies are likely to name the same team that lost the Pro20 match against the Proteas at the Wanderers on Friday night. Their charismatic captain Chris Gayle is still recovering from a broken thumb and a hamstring niggle, and is unlikely to play before the second ODI in Cape Town on Friday.
The weather forecast for the Pretoria region on Sunday is cloudy to partly cloudy with a 60 per cent chance of showers, so conditions are likely to be muggy and favour the swing bowlers.
Squads: South Africa -- Graeme Smith (captain), AB de Villiers, Jacques Kallis, JP Duminy, Justin Ontong, Mark Boucher, Shaun Pollock, Johan Botha, Andre Nel, Charl Langeveldt, Dale Steyn, Albie Morkel
West Indies: (from) Chris Gayle (captain), Dwayne Bravo (vice-captain), Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Fidel Edwards, Runako Morton, Daren Powell, Denesh Ramdin, Rawl Lewis, Marlon Samuels, Jerome Taylor, Patrick Brown, Brenton Parchment, Darren Sammy, Devon Smith, Sewnerine Chattergoon, Ravi Rampaul.
- SAPA
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