Steyn injury may force rethink

Dale Steyn is unlikely to be fit for Friday's second Test against Pakistan, which has put a spoke in the wheel of South Africa's plan to start resting key bowlers for the remainder of the series.

"We are not expecting Dale to be fit for Port Elizabeth," said Proteas coach Mickey Arthur from his East London base on Tuesday. "It now looks as though he will only be ready for the Newlands Test a week later, which means we will have to rethink our plans when the squad reassembles (Wednesday).

"We had thought of resting Makhaya (Ntini) in Port Elizabeth and Polly (Shaun Pollock) at Newlands, but that may no longer be the case.

"In addition to Dale's problems, André Nel did not come through the second innings at Centurion all that well and he may need to be rested as well."

Arthur admitted that the team was not all that comfortable about resting first-choice players such as Ntini and Pollock before the series was wrapped up.

"We could take the chance of playing both Ntini and Pollock at St George's Park in the hope that we would clinch the series 2-0, but that could create a problem, because we would not want to arrive at Newlands with the series still alive and having to rest both of our senior bowlers.

"What is certain is that both Pollock and Ntini will have to be rested at some stage."

At the moment Steyn would be seen as the obvious man to replace Ntini, although he is by right entitled to a place in the starting line-up as a first choice. Although Andrew Hall is a genuine all-rounder, he is seen more as a standby player for Jacques Kallis rather than for Pollock.

Pollock is a frontline bowler in the first place and, as such, has to be replaced by a strike bowler. In that case Morné Morkel would be the more logical choice as he would be more than comfortable batting at No 8 - he in fact batted at No 3 in the Titans' second innings against the Lions at Potchefstroom last Saturday - and has enormous bowling potential.

Arthur expressed disappointment that Morkel had again bowled a lot of no balls (10 in all) in the Lions' second innings, but said he would still be in line for selection as he had been identified as one for the future and it would be logical to build on his good debut against India at Kingsmead.

The Proteas won't need reminding of how important bowling discipline is after Pakistan produced an endless stream of no balls in both innings at Centurion.

At least the Proteas will have Herschelle Gibbs available for the second Test after he lodged an appeal against his two-Test ban by the ICC within the mandatory 24 hours. In terms of ICC regulations, all judgments and sentences are suspended until an appeal has been heard.

Jacques Rudolph is the replacement batsman in the South African squad, and at this stage there are no plans to put the struggling AB de Villiers on the sidelines, even with Gibbs available to play.

Pakistan have much the same problems in the fast bowling department as their hosts. Umar Gul, who has been the stalwart of the attack for the past year, has bowled only a handful of overs in the nets so far and the tour selectors may well have to gamble on his ability to get through second and third spells in a full day's play.

There is even more doubt about Shoaib Akhtar, who has not played Test cricket since the end of January last year when he took part in the three-match home series against India. The last series in which he played a significant role was at home against England at the end of 2005.

Pakistan are, of course, in a must-win situation to get back into the series, being one down with two to play. This may lead to them taking risks over fitness that they would not normally envisage.

Mohammad Yousuf, the leading centurion and run-scorer in Test cricket last year, will definitely come into the side, even though he hasn't played first-class cricket for six weeks. Even if not at his best, he is still a much better prospect than either Yasir Hameed or Faisal Iqbal.

Both teams will have their first practice in Port Elizabeth on Wednesday, which will give a much clearer indication of who is bowling fit - if not match fit - and who isn't.