Second test preview

I am kind of glad I wasn't around last week. I suspect any comment from me on the debacle which was the first test batting performance would not have been constructive.

Anyway, with top order failures and Shane Bond's injury it looks like all the standard cliches are going to apply to this tour. The only hope I see is in the hints that the Newlands pitch may take spin and South Africa have no-one who comes close to Dan Vettori in that department.

Hashim Amla comes into the South African side with a big reputation and a poor start to his test career. This is more than a little reminiscent of another opener who played against New Zealand way back in 1998/9. That player was the man Amla is replacing - Herschelle Gibbs - and he promptly peeled off scores of 34, 211 not out and 120 against us.

I suspect the opener coming into the New Zealand side hasn't quite got the talent that Amla or Gibbs have, but Michael Papps does have guts and a cricketing brain on his side. We know this because we saw them strewn all over the pitch when Brett Lee bowled to him last season. He also has height, or a lack of it. The combination of "Two Metre Peter" and "Two Apples Mike" is sure to confuse the South African new-ball bowlers. A bouncer to Papps will become a half-volley when bowled to Fulton.

The other player who may come into the New Zealand side is Jeetan Patel. Patel has an awful first-class record, but has really impressed in the one-day game, spins the ball hard and takes wickets. As noted above there are rumours that the wicket will take turn early and if they are true then expect Patel to play. Don't assume that the rumours are anything more than noise though. The South Africans don't seem to be taking the wicket too seriously, they have picked one spinner and bracketed him with Andre Nel as the most likely candidate for 12th man duties.