SuperSport Series: KwaZulu Natal-Gauteng preview

Its role will be to clarify - or fog - the international picture; in particular the makeup of the South African team for the first test against the West Indies on November 26.

Two players, one on each side, come to mind immediately: Adam Bacher for Gauteng and Shaun Pollock for the Dolphins. Bacher is over his injury and is scoring big runs, albeit against mild attacks on featherbed pitches, while Pollock has yet to play a competitive match since he returned from the Commonwealth Games in Malaysia more than a month ago.

South Africa badly needs a fit Pollock to support Allan Donald at the cutting edge of its pace attack, as well as provide the quality middle-order batting of which he is capable. In short, Pollock is essential both to the quality and the balance of the side.

This weekend should give a clear indication of whether he will arrive at the station on time.

There is still a situation vacant sign hanging over the number two spot in the SA order alongside Gary Kirsten following Gerhardus Liebenberg's test failures in England. Both he and Bacher have made runs this season and it must not be forgotten that Liebenberg made a lot of runs against the West Indies A last season.

An outsider is another player who will play this weekend: Andrew Hudson. Hudson is coming off a century against Griquas last weekend, but his case is complicated by the fact that he bats four for his province. One feels that if the selectors were still interested in him they would have approached the Dolphins' management and asked them to put him up the order.

Test speculation aside, this is a match that the Dolphins look ill-equipped to win, primarily because of their thin attack against the home team's powerful batting lineup that features Koenig, Bacher, Cullinan, Rutherford, McKenzie, Crookes, De Bruyn and Pothas. The visitors will almost certainly pick a four-man attack comprising Pollock, Gary Gilder, Jannie Dreyer and probably Craig Tatton.

With due respect to Pollock, it's hard to see how he can pull his normal weight so soon after returning from injury. This will place a huge burden on the other three bowlers, particularly Tatton who can expect to bowl a huge number of overs.

Of course it would have been a different story if Lance Klusener had been fit to play. But despite running in hard in the Kingsmead nets yesterday, he still looked ill at ease and left practice complaining of soreness.

Tomorrow's match does, however, offer a great opportunity for new wicketkeeper Bruce Hughes who takes the place of Keith Forde who is away on business in Canada.

Hughes, 22, a former DHS pupil, has a distinguished youth record having played for Natal Schools in 1992, '93 and '94 and for the SA Under-19 team the following year.

He is a gutsy player who has also played representative rugby for Natal at an Under-21 level. ``I have learnt to relax more and not put pressure on myself,'' he said at practice yesterday. ``I am looking forward to the challenge.''

Start: 10am (not on TV)

Squads

Gauteng (from): Sven Koenig, Adam Bacher, Daryll Cullinan, Ken Rutherford (capt), Neil McKenzie, Zander de Bruyn, Derek Crookes, Nic Pothas, Clive Eksteen, Andrew Hall, Ross Veenstra, David Terbrugge

Dolphins (from): Mark Bruyns, Doug Watson, Errol Stewart, Andrew Hudson, Jonty Rhodes, Dale Benkenstein (capt), Shaun Pollock, Bruce Hughes, Gary Gilder, Craig Tatton, Jannie Dreyer, Robbie Macqueen.

Umpires: Danny Becker and Nic Pretorius
Third umpire: Bob Hope