With Australia on the horizon, Morne needs to be on target in Tests against Bangladesh.

Helping Morne Morkel set his radar will be one of the prime objectives for the South African camp in the two-match Test series against Bangladesh, which starts in Bloemfontein on Wednesday. The tall Morkel will be one of the men who needs to be at his best when South Africa take on Australia next month. Actually, all 11 South Africans will need to be on top of their game, even if the world champions have just come off a significant series defeat in India. As coach Mickey Arthur points out, Australia haven’t lost a home series since they were edged out by the West Indies in 1992/93. Pace bowling was crucial. The great Curtly Ambrose was at the peak of his powers and he was ably supported by fellow fast bowlers Ian Bishop and Courtney Walsh. Gary Kirsten, who coached India to their recent triumph, reckons South Africa have a chance because he believes they have the best seam bowling attack in Test cricket. If Morkel fires together with Dale Steyn and Makhaya Ntini, with Jacques Kallis chipping in with some strong overs, South Africa could emulate the pace- based West Indian triumph of 16 seasons ago. The leading wicket-taker in the series victory in England, Morkel has the wonderful gift of being able to produce unplayable deliveries, but he can also bowl some awful ones. That trend continued in the one-day games against Bangladesh, where he sent down 18 wides in 20 overs. “He’s the one guy I want to see bowling well,” admitted Arthur. “(Assistant coach) Vinnie Barnes and the Titans guys have identified an area that needs honing. It’s all about confidence and I would like to see him and the other bowlers bowl some good spells on good wickets so they’ve got a little bit of work under their belts when they get to Australia.” In an unusual twist to a Test series, Arthur’s unspoken wish is for Bangladesh to put up more resistance than they have in most matches against South Africa. He wants fair Test pitches on which the bowlers will have to work for their wickets. “I would like the conditions to be similar to those we can expect in Australia, with a little pace and bounce,” he said. “It would be pointless if the bowlers just had to run in on green seamers’ tracks and knock them over.” It was in just such conditions that Morkel had a career-best match return of 11 for 56 against the Warriors recently, a match Arthur watched. “He bowled very well but the conditions were very seam-friendly,” he said. Arthur acknowledged that two Tests against Bangladesh followed by a single two-day warm-up game in Perth were not ideal ahead of the Australia series but says the Proteas have to “play with the cards we are dealt” in terms of the ICC’s tours programme. “Bangladesh are a decent side and we’re a settled unit. I want to see our batsmen get runs so they can hit Australia with a lot of confidence and our bowlers to bowl good spells.” Arthur said he was encouraged by the form of the men who have been playing domestic cricket while the one-day internationals have been on. “They’ve all been in good form,” he said of Ntini, Neil McKenzie, Ashwell Prince and Paul Harris.

Colin Bryden

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.