Sport

Arthur looking to the future

Ted Corbett

CRICKET / Aims to use Indian veterans as his litmus paper

— Photo: AFP

RAIN, RAIN GO AWAY: Robin Uthappa (right) Sachin Tendulkar (centre) and Piyush Chawla during the Indian team’s indoor practice session on Thursday.

BELFAST: Mickey Arthur, the South African coach, hopes that his new ball attack will increase its stature against the mighty Indian batsmen in the second and third games of the appropriately named Future Cup one-day series since he reckons India has in Sourav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Yuvraj Singh players with the credentials to test out any youngster.

Arthur is not looking to alter the South African side as England has done but he came to Ireland determined to try out his young bowlers. “It can be said that we underperformed in the World Cup,” he said.

“Now we need to refresh the side. We need pace and if Dale Steyn is fit for the second game on Friday, after a viral infection which seems to be at an end, he will bring that pace to the party.

“We need a spinner and before we go home I want to see how Thandi Tshabalala performs in the face of men like Dravid and Tendulkar. I would not want to return to South Africa without giving these youngsters a trial. I want to go home with some answers,” he said.

Arthur, a voluble man who clearly relishes the cut and thrust of a United Nations press conference with Indian, South African and English journalists, also praised the return of Ganguly, whose 18-month absence from the Indian side has refreshed his appetite for the international scene.

“I never understood why he was left out of the team. He has a presence, a stature that makes a difference to the side and it is good to see him back,” said Arthur.

Arthur is all too concerned with his own problems. “We came here cold and afterwards we have five weeks without cricket,” he said, marking an unusual amount of down time from the hurly-burly of 21st century international cricket.

He clearly meant to make the most of this unexpected opportunity even if, like the Indian team, his men have also been struck by the infection that has spread through the team’s hotel.

“We have also to consider the batting line-up. Jacques Kallis guided us home in the first game but he has been doing that for years and this morning I challenged the other guys at the top of the order to do the same. We have become predictable in the overs between 20 and 35 and I hope that you will see a change in the future,” he said.

Arthur is clearly after a 13-man side that can be switched around according to the conditions. There is the No. 5 spot that is not a difficulty but requires thought with every match.

“Do we play Justin Kemp or Jean-Paul Duminy? Or do we leave a space for a spinner or an extra quick bowler?” It sounds as if for Friday’s match he will play Tshabalala and dare the 22-year-old, who bowls low flat off-spin darts, to control some of the best players of spin the game has known. It will be a debut to remember if this ploy succeeds.

As for the No. 5 spot, there was once upon a time an obvious solution: Kevin Pietersen, now hijacked by England. “Yes, that would be the answer,” Arthur laughed.

“That would be fantastic. It would have changed the whole of South Africa’s future, for instance,” he added.

India could only train in the gym because of rain on Thursday. Dravid broke off his workout to report that Gautam Gambhir had been added to the sick list, that S. Sreesanth was still too ill to be considered and that Dhoni and Agarkar, now recovering, had been able to practice.

We left the warmth of the press conference for the shelter of waterproofs, umbrellas and oilskins and realised that the ground was already soaked, that the rainstorm was intensifying and that the chances of anyone playing anytime soon required multiple miracles.

The teams: