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The match between Victoria and Cape Cobras on Saturday got off to a delayed start after police detained an Under-22 cricketer from Jammu and Kashmir staying at the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) complex in the Chinnaswamy Stadium in connection with a suspected presence of explosives at the venue. He was released after questioning and, after the police gave the green signal, the match eventually began at 5.40 pm (12.10 GMT) , almost two hours behind schedule, and was reduced to 17 overs a side.A media release from the Champions League organisers said: “A young man was taken for questioning by police but he has subsequently been released without charge. Police and security experts have checked the stadium twice, as well as the suspicious bag, but nothing of concern has been found. As a result, the stadium has been given the all-clear for tonight’s matches to proceed.”Police had asked Cape Cobras and Victoria, whose match was supposed to begin at 4.00 pm (10.30 GMT), to remain in their hotel and the start time was initially pushed back by an hour. The players were briefed by the tournament organisers about the security situation. Spectators were allowed into the venue after thorough checks; police said around 1500 security personnel were deployed at the stadium though they conceded it was not a significant increase from the usual figure.A spokesman for the Victoria side said they were disconcerted by the initial reports but were satisfied with security assurances given to them by the police. However, Andrew Puttick, the Cobras captain, seemed unsure of his XI at the toss and South African commentator Mike Haysman said on air that some of the players had not come to the ground.Briefing the media, Bangalore’s police commissioner Shankar Bidari said the police acted on a tip-off on Friday night from the stadium staff: “When the police entered the room, the instruments pointed towards a bag but no explosives were found in it. Even then, as a measure of precaution, we have taken the person possessing the bag into custody. His antecedents are being verified from the Jammu and Kashmir police.”Bidari said the bag might have been used to transport explosives, which could have been shifted to another place.Ehsan Mirza, a senior official at Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association, however, said they had been assured by KSCA secretary Brijesh Patel there was nothing untoward but they were not happy with the incident. “Our Under-22 team reached Bangalore on Friday evening from Bhubaneswar,” Mirza told Cricinfo.”Today morning some people – I’m not sure whether Karnataka police or any other security agency – came to the KSCA and carried out interrogations and picked two of our boys, Pervez Rasool and Mehrajudin (both from Kashmir). We spoke to Brijesh Patel and he assured us there was nothing untoward. But we are not happy with the incident. This is the height of indecency, the way our boys have been treated, and we are speaking to our president Farooq Abdullah to get the team back.”An official from the Jammu and Kashmir U-22 team said they were “shocked”. “We are going to Mumbai soon. But now this has happened. All the boys are shocked. We are just waiting for further orders.”

Match facts

Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Start time 1430 (1230 GMT)Shahid Afridi and Shoaib Malik would have to contribute with bat and ball if Pakistan are to get their hands on the Champions Trophy for the first time•AFP

Big picture

Pakistan, a team with a dash of mercurial madness, are pitted against West Indies, who are fighting an identity crisis. On paper it’s a mismatch: Weakened considerably by the ongoing imbroglio between the board and the main players, West Indies were swept aside by Bangladesh at home recently and few are giving them a chance in this tournament.Both teams have a 20% success rate in ODIs held in South Africa against the top eight teams; this tournament presents an opportunity to change that statistic. Pakistan will look to ease themselves into the tournament with what should be, in theory, an easy outing. Their captain Younis Khan, who won’t be featuring in tomorrow’s encounter, has already raised the stakes by announcing that he wants to win the tournament in honour of Bob Woolmer, their former coach who died during the 2007 World Cup.It won’t be that easy, though. Pakistan haven’t had the best of the years in ODIs, losing eight of the 13 games played; their batting has floundered repeatedly and they have been bowled out for less than 175 five times. It’s a team in the rebuilding stage and instead of opting for an all-youth policy they have added a healthy bit of experience. They have been beefed up by the return of the ICL players in Mohammad Yousuf, Imran Nazir and the solid Naved-ul-Hasan.If West Indies, derailed by controversy in the recent times, are desperately seeking some positive signs, they need only look at their history in this tournament. They have been runners-up twice and won it once so memorably in 2004. They lack even a single star but, freed of the weight of expectation, they can be a thorn in the flesh of the other fancied teams in their group.

Form guide

(last five completed matches, most recent first)West Indies – LLLLW
Pakistan – WWLLL

Team news

Pakistan have an explosive talent in Mohammad Aamer, the left-arm fast bowler and a canny medium-pacer in Naved-ul-Hasan, along with a couple of good spinners in Shahid Afridi and Saeed Ajmal. Their bowling can be expected to be consistent; it’s their batting that needs to get rolling to push them ahead in this tournament.Shoaib Malik, who hit a hundred at No. 3 in the warm-up game against Warriors, says he is willing to open the innings. He averages 37.35 as an opener, with two centuries and a fifty, and is likely to feature among the top three in the batting order. Though he has had a poor year, scoring just one half-century in 11 games with an average of 21.44, he has a very good record in South Africa, averaging 77.50 in five games with one half-century. Misbah-ul-Haq returns to the country where it had all started for him during the inaugural World Twenty20.Mohammad Yousuf adds solidity to the middle-order and Mohammad Asif, though not slated to play tomorrow, will make his much-awaited return to international cricket at some point in the tournament.Pakistan (probable) 1 Imran Nazir, 2 Kamran Akmal (wk), 3 Shoaib Malik, 4 Mohammad Yousuf, 5 Misbah-ul-Haq, 6 Umar Akmal, 7 Shahid Afridi (capt), 8 Naved-ul-Hasan, 9 Saeed Ajmal, 10 Umar Gul, 11 Mohammad AamerNot much is expected of West Indies, nor have they done much recently to raise any expectations. Though weakened, they have some talent in Dale Richards, Devon Smith, and David Bernard in the batting department. Their bowling would be led by Kemar Roach and Darren Sammy, with Nikita Miller providing the spin option.West Indies (probable) 1 Dale Richards, 2 Andre Fletcher, 3 Devon Smith, 4 Travis Dowlin, 5 Floyd Reifer (capt), 6 Kieran Powell, 7 David Bernard, 8 Chadwick Walton (wk), 9 Darren Sammy, 10 Kemar Roach, 11 Nikita Miller.

Watch out for…

Umar Gul has never been the poster boy in his career but, of late, he has shouldered the burden of being the strike bowler with his talent backed by maturity. He has a very good yorker and is likely to get some seam movement with the new ball. The return of Asif is likely to benefit Gul, who has always seemed a natural follower than a leader.Dale Richards is one of the few players in history who have opened their Test debuts with a six. He is naturally aggressive and is pretty good against pace bowling, but still faces the criticism that he fails to convert his starts. This tournament presents a great opportunity to showcase his talent.

Stats and trivia

• Pakistan have played ODIs against only Sri Lanka and Australia this year, losing eight of the 13 games.
• Mohammad Yousuf is the second-highest scorer after Saeed Anwar for Pakistan in Champions Trophy history, scoring 284 runs at 47.33, but averaging only 31.81 in ODIs played in South Africa.
• Darren Sammy is the only player in the current West Indies team who has played in a Champions Trophy game before – he didn’t bat but picked up one wicket from six overs.

Quotes

“I want the people in the Caribbean to know that this is a West Indies team that is dedicated to the West Indies cricket. This is not a second-string team,.”
“I know from experience that the batting is the most important thing while playing in South Africa. If our batting clicks we can win the competition. “

Former Pakistan captain Wasim Akram, former Indian batsman Pravin Amre and ex-India coach John Wright will make their presentations for the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) coach’s post in Mumbai on August 30.Sourav Ganguly, who is tipped to regain the captaincy next season, indicated that his presence at the meeting had not been finalised yet. “Akram is part of the final few coaches who have been called on August 30,” Ganguly told PTI. “He, Wright and Amre have been called. Obviously, I know the names of the coaches in contention but I don’t have the authority to reveal them. It’s Shah Rukh Khan [the principal owner] and Jay Mehta [co-owner] who will take the decision, but I have a say in that. “The coach’s post was left vacant after KKR sacked John Buchanan, the coach for the first two seasons, following a bottom-placed finish among the eight teams in the second season held in South Africa.Akram’s candidature, however, is not expected to carry much weight because, as one franchise official said, the former Pakistani legend would essentially be a bowling coach. It is learnt that Akram himself is less keen on a full-time coach’s job and would like to work as a consultant.Ganguly said Shah Rukh did have a word with Akram on the matter. “Yeah, I have good relations with Wasim Akram,” said Ganguly. “He was a great bowler. Though I know him very well but it was SRK who had a chat with Wasim.”One round of interviews was concluded last weekend. Matthew Mott, who was Buchanan’s assistant at KKR, was interviewed because the franchise owners are keen to start on a fresh note and felt that he should be given an opportunity to present his case. Also interviewed were Richard Pybus, Michael Bevan, Dermot Reeves and Duncan Fletcher, while former Indian batsmen WV Raman, Ashok Malhotra and Lalchand Rajput made their presentations in front of Shah Rukh, Mehta and Ganguly earlier this week.Amre, was assistant coach of the Mumbai Indians for the second season of the IPL and his expertise would, no doubt, be extremely valuable. Wright, who is also keen on coming “back to India” is currently in Chennai with the New Zealand A side that is playing in the Buchi Babu Tournament.However, any final decision will be taken only after the franchise owners meet Wright, who was initially touted as a strong frontrunner for the job because of his past association as India coach and rapport with Ganguly, the then captain.The franchise owners have subsequently played down Wright’s chances and insisted that the team is looking for a coach with Twenty20 coaching experience, which has shifted the spotlight to Pybus and Reeve. But the fact that Wright will be one of the last of a reported 18 candidates to be interviewed and that his role with New Zealand Cricket was recently revised to a consultancy capacity indicate that the former opener is still very much in the frame.

Chennai Super Kings, the IPL franchise that paid US$ 1.55 million for Andrew Flintoff this year, hope to have the England allrounder – who announced his retirement from Test cricket today – available full time for the team next season.Flintoff has said that he would focus on ODI and Twenty20 cricket after the ongoing Ashes series and VB Chandrasekhar, who heads cricket operations at Chennai, said that more cricketers who are nearing retirement could now take this option.”It is always nice to have such a top cricketer to be available full time,” Chandrasekhar, who is a former national selector, told Cricinfo. “I can understand why he has made this tough decision. Jacob Oram talked about how exacting it to play Test cricket with a fragile body. I see more cricketers taking this option when retirement is near the corner and the pressures tell on the body. They might retire from one format of the game.”Oram, the New Zealand allrounder and Flintoff’s Chennai team-mate, had said during the IPL that he might consider giving up one skill set to sustain his career. Flintoff failed to create an impact in the IPL and played just four games for Chennai – scoring 62 runs and taking two wickets at 52.50 – before he was forced out by a knee injury. “We thought he did well for us,” Chandrasekhar said. “He came with a great attitude and his presence in the dressing room was great for the youngsters.”Meanwhile, Lalit Modi, the IPL chairman, dismissed suggestions that the Indian league was one of the factors that prompted Flintoff to retire although he added that the league would be happy to provide cricketers “a second life” after they retire.Modi said he agreed with the MCC cricket committee’s views this week that the “proliferation of lucrative domestic Twenty20 leagues, such as the IPL, will lead to the premature retirement of quality international cricketers”. But he added that the league also provides financial security to cricketers, especially in countries where cricket competes with other sports like rugby for fans’ attention.”IPL has nothing to do with it [Flintoff’s decision],” Modi told Cricinfo. “Each player takes his own decision. We would encourage players not to retire from international cricket for IPL. But we are happy that we are able to give them a second life after they retire. Adam Gilchrist retired and everybody said he would not be the same but he has performed extremely well.”Modi said that more tournaments needed to come up to give similar financial security to players, like the IPL does. “Many countries have many other sports that are eating into cricket like rugby and soccer in countries like Australia, England, New Zealand and South Africa. If that continues to evolve and we are not able to get viewers back to cricket those countries would be under pressure from the revenue point, which in turn would impact the player’s overall salary.”So tournaments like IPL and such would give them the financial stability by getting a bigger salary. But playing the IPL is not a full-time financial guarantee as it is performance-based as there so many options in terms of players available to the franchise who are allowed to field only four players in a game. But the IPL is not the only guarantee and more and more tournaments would need to come up to give similar financial security.”

Man of the dayAndrew Flintoff’s dodgy knee will force him out of Test cricket at the end of this summer, but on a pulsating final morning at Lord’s, he pressed through the pain barrier, and cranked up his pace, to bring a comprehensive end to Australia’s 75-year unbeaten run at Lord’s. At the same time he ended a hoodoo of his own, by picking up his first five-wicket haul since the Ashes decider at The Oval in 2005, and only his third in 77 Tests. Andrew Strauss could not extract the ball from his mitt until the game was done and dusted, as he became only the sixth cricketer to put his name on both honours boards at Lord’s. Farewells cannot come more fitting.Breakthrough of the dayBrad Haddin had been utterly immoveable during an anxious fourth evening for England, but as so often happens, resuming his innings proved to be a challenge too far. With Flintoff tearing in at full pelt, Haddin could not add to his overnight 80. Four balls was all Flintoff needed – and three would have done had a short-leg been in place – as he found a perfect length on the line of off stump, and Haddin fenced nervily to Paul Collingwood at second slip. But for the overnight break, he might not have been drawn into the stroke, but Flintoff’s fiery accuracy gave him no choice.Rearguard of the dayMitchell Johnson was sledged by Kevin Pietersen as “the big allrounder” before the series, and though his bowling in this match was abject, his defiant final-day counterattack showed a timely glimpse of the talents that took South Africa by storm earlier this year. As wickets were chiselled away at the other end, Johnson kept on timing the ball sweetly and keeping the dream alive, with nine fours in a 75-ball 63. In the end, however, Swann breached his defences with his fourth bowled of the innings. And as Johnson left the field, he couldn’t help feeling that the 200 runs that came directly from his bowling had been the single biggest difference between the sides.Bowling change of the dayThe introduction of Graeme Swann in the 99th over of the innings. A feature of Michael Clarke’s innings had been his decisive footwork against the spinner, whom he had milked for 37 runs from 74 balls on the fourth day. But Swann is a canny operator, and having been pushed into the covers to start his day’s work, his second delivery was tantalisingly floated up with a deceptive change of pace. With extra loop and late dip, he found the same spot but with 4mph taken off the ball. Clarke was drawn forward and ended up yorking himself.No-ball of the dayFlintoff’s first wicket of the innings was marred by the belated realisation that Rudi Koertzen had missed a no-ball, but today some sort of justice was served when Mitchell Johnson survived a stone-dead lbw appeal as a low full-toss thudded into his knee-roll. Johnson had made just 4 at the time, but Koertzen’s eyes were hawkishly pinned to the front crease, and he rightly noticed that Flintoff’s heel was over the line.Drop of the dayIt was a stunning effort, but it simply refused to stick. Johnson was on 36, having just slammed Swann clean through point for four, when he drove on the up through the gap at mid-off. Swann was alert to the stroke and dived full-stretch to his right, and for an agonising instant it seemed as though the chance had stuck. Matt Prior was already rushing up to start the celebrations, but as Swann hit the turf, the ball bobbled out, and the moment was lost.

Even on one leg, Chris Gayle looks every bit the irresistible batting force. At a windswept Lady Bay training complex on Tuesday, he strode forth from the sidelines to drive, pull and cut his bowlers to all corners of Nottingham in a short, sharp net session. Not a bad effort, considering Gayle could scarcely walk the previous morning, and had sat out all of West Indies’ running and fielding drills to that point.Gayle’s right leg injury – the result of a fearsome blow struck by Mitchell Johnson at The Oval on Saturday – sidelined him from Wednesday’s defeat to Sri Lanka, but West Indies’ supporters need not fret. Team officials are confident their enigmatic captain will be available for Super Eights assignments against India on Friday and South Africa on Saturday, and will be close to full fitness.Gayle had, in fact, stated his preference to play on Wednesday, but given West Indies had already qualified for the second phase of the World Twenty20, he was convinced to accept the recommendation of medical staff and stand down. He left the team’s Trent Bridge dug-out mid-way through the match to undergo physiotherapy and ice treatment on the injury, and is reportedly making steady progress.Popular theory states that if Gayle is absent from West Indies’ Twenty20 line-up, all is lost. And while West Indies did indeed go down to the highly impressive Sri Lankans, the fact their Dwayne Bravo-led batting unit still managed a none-too-shabby 177 for 5 – 18 more than Australia managed against the same opposition and at the same venue two days prior – suggests they are very much a force to be reckoned with in this tournament, particularly when Gayle returns to their ranks.”It will be a big boost for us,” said Denesh Ramdin, West Indies’ stand-in captain. “With his presence in the team all the guys’ confidence will be up.”While satisfied with West Indies’ batting effort, Ramdin was less than impressed with the indiscipline displayed by his bowlers. If not for Lendl Simmons’ brilliant three-over spell that yielded figures of 4 for 19 – the second-best return of any bowler at the tournament thus far – West Indies might have faced a target well in excess of 200, as opposed to Sri Lanka’s eventual 192 for 5.Fidel Edwards and Keiron Pollard were mercilessly dealt with by the indefatigable Sanath Jayasuriya (81 off 47 balls) and Tillakaratne Dilshan (74 off 47), who combined for a thunderous 124-run opening stand that all but decided the match. Simmons’ controlled seamers accounted for both openers, as well as those of Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene, but the earlier profligacy of his quicker team-mates proved ultimately impossible to paper over.”Playing against the bigger oppositions you need to take your chances,” Ramdin said.

ScorecardWest Indies’ preparations for the Lord’s Test, which starts in ten days, were blown off course as Essex bowled them out for 146 and closed the second day of the tour match at Chelmsford 292 runs in front with seven second-innings wickets in hand.While Alastair Cook took the opportunity of another chance in the middle to follow up his first-innings 46 with an unbeaten 74, the West Indians’ batting was nothing to write home about. Only Shivnarine Chanderpaul, who made a typically dogged 66, prevented a complete rout.Resuming on 24 for 1, within a quarter of an hour the tourists were 29 for 4. Dale Richards nibbled at Maurice Chambers in the third over, and two balls later Narsingh Deonarine was bowled off a big inside edge. Soon after Lendl Simmons played a loose swish outside off stump and gave wicketkeeper James Foster his second catch of the morning.Chanderpaul and Brendan Nash stopped the rot, but Nash looked out of sorts and was beaten more than once. It was not surprising when Chambers comprehensively bowled him for 14.Allrounder Dave Bernard decided the best form of defence was attack and thumped three fours, but with the ball still moving around it was always going to be a high-risk strategy; Jahid Ahmed replaced Chambers and straight away had Bernard caught behind. In the next over Mervyn Westfield had Darren Sammy leg-before for 1, and West Indians were 80 for 7.Chanderpaul is no stranger at having to marshal the tail, and he again did so well, mixing caution with outbursts of violence. In one over he cracked a four and a six of Ahmed, but support for him was simply not there.Lionel Baker became Chambers’ fourth, and career-best, victim when he was caught in front of his stumps by a yorker, and Westfield wrapped things up by removing the last two batsmen in quick succession, leaving Chanderpaul high and dry.With almost half the day to bat, Essex went about grinding the tourists’ noses further into the mud, despite the early loss of Jason Gallian, collecting a pair at the hands of Baker.Cook, who had appeared still troubled by his finger injury yesterday, looked carefree second time round, although he had a slice of luck when dropped by stand-in wicketkeeper Simmons before he had scored.Varun Chopra and Jaik Mickleburgh both got starts before getting out, but Cook found support from Foster, and the pair added an unbeaten 77 for the fourth wicket.

Rajasthan Royals and Middlesex, the IPL and English Twenty20 champions respectively, will face off for the British Asian Cup on July 6 at Lord’s in what will be the first of an annual charity series to be played between the Twenty20 champions of the two countries. From next year the fixture will be played as a best-of-three series.The two teams would have originally met in the Champions League scheduled for October 2008 but that was called off because of security concerns in India. A portion of the proceeds from the game will go to the British Asian Trust, a Prince of Wales charity.Middlesex will be led by Shaun Udal and will include IPL players Tyron Henderson, Owais Shah and Murali Kartik. Henderson plays for Rajasthan but will turn out for Middlesex in the charity game. Rajasthan’s side will include captain Shane Warne, Graeme Smith, Sohail Tanvir, Kamran Akmal, and Yusuf Pathan.Lalit Modi, the IPL commissioner, said the series was another milestone in the IPL’s international development. “We have shown this year that the IPL truly has global appeal, and for one of our teams to be playing at the ‘home of cricket’ in front of the wonderfully passionate British fans is very exciting. Moreover, we have a serious commitment to charity, and the association with the British Asian Trust is most welcome.”

Deccan Chargers are banking on the experience of Adam Gilchrist and the knowledge of VVS Laxman, who was replaced as captain by Gilchrist after the first IPL, to finish “a lot higher” than their bottom spot in 2008. Darren Lehmann, the team’s new coach, also said the side was let down by their bowling and fielding last year and that the second IPL starting on Saturday would be a personal challenge.”Adam Gilchrist is the captain and he is very experienced,” Lehmann told Cricinfo. “But VVS Laxman is an important player for us, too. He has got a wealth of experience, and with that knowledge, we are hoping to make some inroads there.”Deccan started last season as favourites after topping their player purchase cap of US$5 million by signing up explosive batsmen like Gilchrist, Andrew Symonds, Herschelle Gibbs, Shahid Afridi and Rohit Sharma, but disintegrated as the IPL progressed. This time, they have begun on a positive note by winning a warm-up game at the SuperSport Park in Centurion on Monday against Titans by six wickets. Scott Styris, their New Zealand signing, took three for 10 to help dismiss Titans for 99 and scored an unbeaten 36 to wrap up a six-wicket win in 11 overs.Deccan will open their IPL campaign in Cape Town on Sunday against Kolkata Knight Riders and Lehmann said he wouldn’t go “too in-depth” into the team’s gameplan. “What I can say is that this time, we are going to play with real passion, play smart, and obviously play better than last year,” Lehmann said. “All in all, I thought we batted well last year but our fielding and bowling probably let us down, so that’s one area we are certainly going to pick up on.”In fact, nothing went right for Deccan last time even outside the field, starting with Laxman’s wrist injury which ruled him out of most of that IPL. A few months later, the team controversially replaced Laxman with Gilchrist as part of a management overhaul that also had Lehmann taking the palce of Robin Singh as coach.Laxman, who will leave for South Africa on Wednesday night, has since staged a magnificent comeback, scoring 956 runs in 12 Tests at an average of 56.23 with two centuries — one each against Australia and New Zealand — and six half-centuries.Then again, just before the second player auction this February, the team also lost Tim Wright, its chief executive officer, over an apparent difference of opinion over the former IMG official’s role in the franchise’s management structure.”There have been a lot of things said but at the end of the day, we just got to perform on the field and that’s all we will be trying to do,” Lehmann said. “Things just didn’t go the team’s way; they didn’t play very well, and the simple fact is we’ve got to improve that this year. We know that as a team, and we will be doing our utmost to do that this year. In Twenty20, everything needs to come together at the same time. We need to field very well, bowl really smartly and also make an effort. These are things we are trying to improve. It’s a good challenge.”Lehmann said the short preparation time available for this IPL would not be a problem because most of his players have been playing international cricket through the year – Gibbs will join the team after the one-day series between South Africa and Australia ends on April 17.”That’s not a worry,” he said. “We just need to get together and get our plans in place on where to go. Besides, most teams don’t have a long preparation period anyway this year because of the move to South Africa so everyone is on the same boat. So the idea is to move as quick as you can, and as best as you can.”Deccan, however, will be have the services of Symonds only for the last two weeks of this IPL after the Australia allrounder was named in the national one-day squad for the series against Pakistan in Abu Dhabi from April 22-May 7. But Lehmann hopes that the team’s new signings – Dwayne Smith and Fidel Edwards – will contribute to some early wins. Edwards took two wickets in Monday’s warm-up game.”Edwards has got explosive pace that’s one thing you need for a Twenty20 start,” Lehmann said. “We expect him to play really well for us and get involved in some early wins with some early wickets. Dwayne Smith is an explosive batsman and a handy allrounder. We have got some depth there, which is really good, and we are looking forward to some inputs from their side as well.”Lehmann also said that his team would be able to adapt to South African conditions better because he, Gilchrist and Laxman have played there before and that experience would work to the team’s advantage. Asked where he hoped his team would finish this time, Lehmann said: “Hopefully, a lot higher than last year.”

It’s never very satisfying to be the second choice for a job but that’s the position Jacques Kallis will find himself in when he captains South Africa in Thursday’s third Test. He was handed the captaincy after Ashwell Prince turned it down and the extra responsibility will weigh heavily on Kallis, who already has the burden of being a key batsman, bowler and slip fielder.And so it will be captaincy by committee for the South Africans, who will also lean heavily on the advice of the injured Graeme Smith, who has been taking a key role in their training sessions and will be in the dressing-room during the match. Kallis has captained South Africa only once before, in similar circumstances three years ago when Australia were 2-0 up in South Africa and Smith was injured for the final Test.”I’ve always said that to be an allrounder and captain is probably the hardest job in the world,” Kallis said. “That’s why I don’t think there are too many who do it. But I’m fortunate that I’ve got Bouchy [Mark Boucher] next to me, I’ve got Hashim Amla, guys that have played quite a few Tests now and that have captained before.”I’m the type of captain that pretty much lets the team make the decisions. Obviously there are times when I’ve got to make a decision but I let the team captain and let guys get involved and run it like that. That certainly is the way I’ve done it in the past and the guys have enjoyed that.”The most interesting feature of the captaincy meetings will be the input of Prince. The vice-captain under Smith, Prince was upset at being overlooked at the start of this series having missed all three Tests in Australia with a broken thumb, and when he was thrust into the unfamiliar opening position for this match he declined to take the reins of the side.”I think he had his reasons and his views why he didn’t want it,” Kallis said. “Obviously he was offered it first and he turned that down. Then they phoned me and said would I do it for the one Test match. Certainly there’s no issue there. We’ve had a chat and there’s no problems. The guys respect his point of view and respect the fact that I’ve taken over.”Kallis insisted that he was looking forward to the challenge but his opposite number Ricky Ponting sees Kallis as a reluctant leader. He said he could not understand why Prince would be hesitant to take on the captaincy upon his recall.”You can understand the reason he was disgruntled in the first place I guess, being the vice-captain and being left out of the side,” Ponting said. “But when opportunities come around like that I think any Australian would grab that with both hands.”The Australian captaincy rarely changes hands and when stand-ins are appointed they treat the job with reverence, as Brad Haddin and Michael Clarke have done when taking charge of limited-overs games. Ponting said South Africa’s leadership dramas could play into Australia’s hands.”You’d probably think so, one of them not wanting to be captain and them having a reluctant captain at the moment,” Ponting said. “I don’t think Kallis is the sort of guy that would be jumping up and down to do the captaincy, knowing the sort of laid-back guy he is on the field.”He’s got enough on his plate anyway with being a top four batter and an allrounder. He’s someone who bowls 20 overs an innings for them. We saw something similar when England came to Australia in 2006-07, [Andrew] Flintoff was captain. When you are an allrounder you already have a lot to think about so that won’t make his job any easier.”South Africa are likely to hand debuts to Albie Morkel and Imraan Khan, while Australia have to decide whether to include the legspinner Bryce McGain for his first taste of Test cricket on a pitch that will turn. The Australians were given a four-day break after the Durban win, which secured the series, and Ponting said with such a young side it was important to make sure they would lift again to push for a clean sweep.”I’ve been letting them know they can’t take anything for granted in this game,” Ponting said. “I’ve got to most of the young guys today and had a chat about putting last week behind us and moving on, starting from fresh with the scoreboard at 0-0 and remembering the things that made you successful over the last couple of weeks, it’s important that we do all that.”