The pitch, he says, will strike a happy medium between the one in Durban, where the bounce was extravagant, and the Newlands strip, which he thought was too flat.

``I have aimed to make a pitch on which a wicket should fall every 30 runs,'' Atkinson said. The fact that he was head-hunted for the Wanderers job, which he started after two years at Newlands, indicates that he knows his onions.

He must have used the sprinkler, roller and more in right proportions and if his runs-per-wicket ratio still goes wrong, it will be more likely because he has not taken into account the hopeless shortcomings of the Indians.

India have only one batsman, Sachin Tendulkar, who has the technique and the will to make runs in all conditions and just two bowlers of true Test class in Javagal Srinath and Venkatesh Prasad.

Furthermore, they do not hold the catches which must be taken at Test level, although their little wicketkeeper, Nayan Mongia, has been infallible in this series.

India have an unhappy dressing room because four of the party are to be sent home when the match ends and replaced for the one-day triangular series - with Zimbabwe as the third team - beginning next week.

At least two of the four rejects - Woorkeri Raman, David Johnson, Pankaj Dharmani and Venkatapathy Raju - are extremely disgruntled and their presence cannot but affect the team's spirit.