Pollock Misses Out As South Africa Remain Unchanged
Dale Steyn: preferred to Shaun Pollock again.
©REUTERS/Zahid Hussein (PAKISTAN) Picture Supplied by Action Images
South Africa have named an unchanged side for the first Test against New Zealand in Johannesburg, meaning that veteran seamer Shaun Pollock remains out of the side, despite having played a key role in the one-day series victory in Pakistan.
The first of two Tests gets underway on Thursday, November 8th, with captain Graeme Smith conceding it had been a tough decision to leave out Pollock, who has 417 wickets from 107 Tests.
"We have a lot of respect for Shaun Pollock but the team that did really well in Pakistan deserves another chance," Smith explained.
"I would not have liked to go into the match without a spinner, because I think we might need Paul Harris through the test. You need an attack to win test matches," he added.
The omission of Pollock leaves South Africa with a vulnerable tail, although Smith was confident that his top order batsmen and bowlers would get the job done:
"It has been an asset having a front-line batsman at number eight but the top six really took responsibility in Pakistan and there were also good contributions at eight and nine, Nella got a 30 and Paul Harris scored 46," he said.
South Africa: Graeme Smith (c), Herschelle Gibbs, Hashim Amla, Jacques Kallis, Ashwell Prince, AB De Villiers, Mark Boucher (wk), Paul Harris, Andre Nel, Makhaya Ntini, Dale Steyn
Cricket World.com – For all the latest international cricket news, reports, live international and county cricket scores; broadband radio and TV; free audio commentary; exclusive interviews, women’s cricket, club cricket, youth cricket and disabled cricket news.
