SOUTH AFRICAN coach Mickey Arthur has declared his side's intention to exploit the volatility of Andrew Symonds and the uncertainty over Matthew Hayden's Test future in their bid to dethrone Australia this summer.
Arthur has noted with interest the controversies that have engulfed Symonds over the past six months and Hayden's occasionally ambiguous comments when answering questions about retirement plans. Both issues have been raised in team discussions this week, and the South Africans believe they could be used to undermine Ricky Ponting's squad as they attempt to become the first touring side to win a series in Australia since 1992-93.
"[Symonds's] issues are something we've definitely talked about," Arthur told the Herald . "We have been following what's been happening, and obviously that drama at the pub can't have helped his peace of mind. There has been a lot of chat about it in our dressing rooms. His temperament is something we've picked up on. We haven't spoken directly yet as to how we might take advantage of it, but it's certainly something that has our attention.
"We've also been talking amongst ourselves as to whether [Hayden] will be the Sydney retiree this year. It seems that there is one every year, and I've noticed some of his comments about his future in the game where he hasn't ruled that out. That can create uncertainty within a team. It will be interesting to get there and see first-hand just how all this is affecting them."
The South Africans arrive in Perth next Sunday with renewed belief that they can end Australia's five-year reign as ICC Test champions. A series draw in India and a win in England this year have done much to rebuild the confidence shredded by their heavy home-and-away defeat to Australia in 2005-06, and the emergence of tearaways Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel has bestowed their attack with a menace factor not seen since the days of Allan Donald.
But it is the performance of the South African batsmen that has most convinced Arthur that victory in Australia is achievable this time around. Three members of the Proteas' top order have exceeded 1000 runs this calendar year, with captain Graeme Smith leading all international batsmen with 1363 at 71.73 in 13 Tests.
"That's an amazing feat, and shows you just what kind of a year we've had," Arthur said. "We could even have five of our top six over 1000 by the end of the year. They've shown great skill and mental toughness on different surfaces around the world. We have been working for two years to put this team together - a team that is ready to meet the challenges of playing in Australia. We feel like we have the talent and the momentum right going into this series.
"We sat down during the Bangladesh Test and spoke at length about Australia - about how we expect them to come at us, about where we think their chinks in the armour are, what kind of strategies we might employ and so on. We talked about a lot of issues, and I then left it with the players to think about, and we will re-commence the conversation after we arrive in Perth."
Arthur is wary of heaping excessive praise on his bowlers, mindful of the early stages of this year's tour of England when hype and headlines proved distracting. But the fact remains that Steyn, Morkel and Makhaya Ntini are all among the top 10 Test wicket-takers in the world this year - Steyn leads all comers with 60 wickets at 19.41 - and a hard, bouncy WACA Ground pitch should play to their strengths.
"The thing that pleased me a lot from our recent series was that we had all four seamers regularly clocking speeds in the mid-145kmh range," Arthur said. "I'd love to think we could take that tempo into Perth. As a unit, I think they're in a really good place.
"We've sat the bowlers down to make sure they're not getting too far ahead of ourselves. We got to England this year and there were stories written that we had the best pace line-up since the West Indies in the early 1990s. It's the most exciting group I've been around, and they have the potential to be the best fast-bowling attack in world cricket."
Email a friend
Favourites
Del.icio.us
Facebook
Digg
StumbleUpon
MySpace
Reddit
Newsvine
LinkedIn
Kwoff
Twitter