Ntini on trial

Forget that it is Sri Lanka's first test series in this country. In fact, their presence at Newlands in the shadow of Table Mountain is a sideshow to the Ntini saga since his selection earlier this week.

One of the problems of course is that Hansie Cronje may win the toss and deccide to bat for almost two days before the Border 21-year-old and former Dale College pupil get his chance to bowl.

Such are the extra little pressures which surround a test and where a young man of his background will need the cool nerves he displayed at Perth not too long ago when bowling to New Zealand in the ODI match at the Waca. And no doubt Cronje is going to be on hand to give advice along with Allan Donald, whose place Ntini took.

Yet it is going to need more than raw aggression and adrenalin to get the best out of the young man who almost didd not amke to Australia in the first place. Only the rib injury carried by Roger Telemachus was too serious to allow him to tour.

So far he has been nursed along, although his bowling average is in mid-30s and is inclined to bowl a little too short to often to be effective on a cabbage patch such as Buffalo Park. The Waca has long been recognised as a ground where fast bowlers thrive and it suited his bowling style.

The question of whether Ntini opens the bowling with Donald or is held back as first change and a chance to settle down is another area where Cronje's careful handling of Ntini is going to be closely watched.

The other battle of wits to emerge in this game is the rehabilitation of Daryll Cullinan against the off-spin of Muttiah Muralitharan, the Lankan with the wonky elbow. Yet discussions with batsmen who have faced him indicate that if he does throw they cannot pick it up. Which suggests the new way the ICC have handled the throwing controversy is working. Whether Cullinan has managed to overcome the spin bogey is another matter. His footwork is still laboured against anyone who remotely looks like a spinner and which has led to his undoing.

He looked ill at ease at the Wanderers and had gone before the end of the 29th over, shortly after Mushtaq Ahmed, the Pakistan leg-spinner, was brought into the attack. Since then he has been left to score runs for Gauteng in the SuperSport Series, and rattled off a big century against Griqualand West last weekend.

Muralitharan has developed into a classy spinner: one who is known to test a suspect batsman's defence with a cunning mix of leg and top-spin. And although his trade secret is off-spin variation, he disguises well on a surface where bounce is all important.

As it is Sri Lanka go into the game seeking form from three of their top six with Sanath Jayasuriya and Aravinda de Silva looking to score heavily. At least two of South Africa's top four, Jacques Kallis and HD Ackerman have been among the runs with a century apiece at Centuurion Park this past weekend.

Trevor Chesterfield Cricket writer Pretoria News tche@ptn.independent.co.za

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