South Africans will go flat out for victory

Elmo Rodrigopulle reporting from Austrailia

Melbourne, Thursday - The South Africans who play the Australians at the Telstra Dome tomorrow will be determined to pocket a victory and clinch a place in the best of three Victoria Bitter series, with the first final slated for February 10 in Adelaide.

In the previous two meetings, South Africa won in Brisbane and then lost the next one at the Telstra Dome.

While Australia have cemented their slot in the finals, this game will be vital for the Proteas who will want to win this, failing which the next one between the two teams in Sydney on February 5.

As for the Australians who are firmly perched in the finals, they have the right to choose who they will want to play in the finals. Will it be the South Africans or the Sri Lankans? The result of this game will tell.

With the two previous games being shared, Australia will want to avenge their defeat while the Proteas will want to strengthen their hold on the Aussies.

The Sri Lanka who will be ruining their defeats and who are now in Hobart will be glued to the TV sets, keeping their fingers crossed and hoping that the Kangaroos would be victorious. A South African win would mean that he Lankans would make an early exit from Kangarooland.

Skipper Ricky Ponting will make a welcome return to the Aussie fold after a two match rest with his batteries recharged and determined to get into the run making act and maintain his standing as the best batsman in one-day cricket.

The Aussies under stand in skipper Adam Gilchrist, showed that they are a formidable force even without Ponting by beating Sri Lanka in Adelaide and Perth. The return of Ponting would certainly add strength to the Aussie batting.

Either Brad Hodge or Michael Hussey would have to make way for Ponting.

The home team will once again look to Gilchrist to continue his rediscovered batting magic. He slaughtered the Lankan attack in his home turf in Perth and if the South African bowlers don't dismiss him early, they too would be chasing leather as did the Lankans.

Gilchrist and Jayasuriya have provided the batting fireworks in this tournament When the two get going there is little to choose between them. Being south paws, they clout the ball with tremendous power and timing. Blessed with strong forearms and wrists and excellent timing, they can murder any attack when in the mood.

The Aussie has a fine all-round side. They are nicely balanced in all aspects. For runs there have Gilchrist, Katich, Ponting, Martyn, Hussey and Clarke, while in their bid for a win they will miss the fearsome pace of Brett Lee who has, in keeping with the rotation policy of the selectors been rested.

The South African batsmen are sure to heave a big sigh of relief because it was Lee who skinned them at the same venue the last time they met ,the disconcerting movement of McGrath who also bowls very economically, medium pacer Stuart Clark and the mesmerising spin of left-armer Brad Hogg who all batsmen find difficult to read.

Brett Dorey who got the bashing of his short career by Sanath Jayasuriya will come in for Lee. In fielding they are an example to their opponents.

Skipper Ponting on the resting of Lee said, "I think it's a really good time for Brett. He's been up for a long time and doing what he does probably has more stress and more physical burnout than anybody else in the side so we felt now is an ideal time, an opportunity to give him a rest," said Ponting, who kept an eye on how his team was performing during his absence."

"Some of the guys prefer playing all the time but we've got to look a bit outside the current 11, what we think is our best 11, and look at some other players, hence the size of the squad in the first place."

Despite the temptation to continue playing Lee, who has taken 10 wickets at an average of 23 in the VB Series, Ponting said it was important to keep his strike bowler fresh and give opportunities to players on the fringe such as Dorey and Stuart Clark.

"You'd like to have Brett in your side all the time. But we've got to try and manage the squad as well as we can and manage him as well as we can," he said.

"He's been a great weapon for us in both forms of the game over the last 12 months and we've got to be a bit careful with him and make sure we are managing him well and this is an important part of that."

As for the South Africans they are an unpredictable quantity. One day they can look world beaters and the next day mediocre. What has unsettled them is the poor batting form of skipper Graeme Smith and the all-round play of the irreplaceable Jaques Kallis.

But in the game against the Lankans he showed that he is slowly crawling into form, not only with the bat, but with his part time off spinners as well. If Smith can maintain this form, then it will raise their game all-round.

Opener Boeta Dippenaar is in rollicking form and batsmen of the calibre of Herschelle Gibbs, Jaques Rudolph, Ashwell Prince, Mark Boucher and Justin Kemp must be determined to score.

The bowling will be spearheaded by veteran Shaun Pollock in the absence of Makaya Nitini with Monde Zondeki, Garnett Kruger. Van der Wath and the spin of Smith and probably the off spin of Joahn Botha who was tested for an illegal action on Wednesday as super-sub.

The Telstra Dome wicket will as usual be lively in the first hour and become batting friendly as the game progresses. However the side winning the toss would relish batting first.