Stuart Williams back in test line up

Facing the prospect of the first humiliating 5-0 white wash in West Indies history, the tourists plan to revamp the top-order to in a bid to add depth and substance to what has so far been a fragile batting display in the eight innings so far.

Along with Williams being recalled Philo Wallace is being asked to bat at three which should take pressure off the highly talented Guyanese left-hander Shivnarine Chanderpaul, who apart from rare glimpses of form has been sacrificed at three in the third and fourth tests while he was also pressed in as an opener in place of Williams at St George's Park when the opener went down with a stomach bug.

Whether this was because he was no longer able to handle the situation where he was batting at six in one innings and opening in the next is not clear. It certainly had nothing to do with an alleged appearance at Dockside Debbie's, a well-known Port Elizabeth fish bar near the harbour.

After than he no longer had the support of Brian Lara and the management. But no matter, it is crisis time for the tourists and why not get him in to open again, this time with Junior Murray and with Wallace at three, Lara might feel a little happier at batting at five, or even six come to that.

As uncertainty still surrounds the fitness of fast bowlers Curtly Ambrose and Courtney Walsh for the fifth test starting on Friday, the Windies are still in a pickle over the make up of their bowling attack. The coach Malcolm Marshall continues to put a brave face on the way the players are handling this tour.

There is a serious lack of commitment and the way the side has batted in their match against Boland, it might be an idea to dump half of the side when they return home next month. Lara, explained away the Wallace-Junior Murray first wicket pairing for the third and fourth tests by saying ``there are times when unorthodox methods work out and we had to do something unorthodox if we wanted to stand a chance of success''.

Which is all very well, but when both batsmen are clearly unhappy with the pace generated by the Allan Donald-Shaun Pollock there are added problems as the mind games have clearly taken over from technique, which is where the Wallace-Murray partnership was vulnerable at Newlands.

Hansie Cronje's view of the possibility of the first 5-0 triumph by any South African side in a series - the nearest was 4-0 against Bill Lawry's Australis team in 1969/70 - is that much will depend on the strength of the ``batting up front'' as with Pat Symcox and Lance Klusener out at Newlands it needed a show by the top four or five to make the difference.

The South African captain saw no change in attitude for the fifth test at SuperSport Centurion, although the fitness of Donald was going to be an important factor in the team for the final match of the series.

``All the players have been motivated throughout the series and I know we would like to go out and win this last one to make a bit of history,'' Cronje said.