KEY POINTS:
South Africa have given the task of trying to shred New Zealand's vulnerable top order to Makhaya Ntini and Dale Steyn in the first test starting in Johannesburg today.
South African coach Mickey Arthur is looking for a repeat of two seasons ago when the pace of Ntini and Steyn took South Africa to a 2-0 win in a three-test series against the Black Caps.
The Proteas' strategy will be expected by New Zealand coach John Bracewell, who is in a race to iron out his top-order batting woes.
The weakness of the top-order was highlighted in New Zealand's two warm-up games in Bloemfontein and Potchefstroom, but Bracewell said he has been communicating to his batsmen the importance of putting failures behind them.
"The emphasis is on playing ball by ball. They need to stay in the now rather than reflect on the past, which may have affected us in the past," he said.
Bracewell said the act of changing from limited-overs or Twenty20 cricket to the longer version of the game was not the problem.
"That hasn't affected us and isn't really the concern. The top three are all specialist test players and the top-order have been with the A side in Australia recently."
With former captain Stephen Fleming still struggling with his thumb injury, the Black Caps top order faces further woes.
Though Bracewell gave Fleming a clearance to play in the first test at the Wanderers despite the injury that ruled him out of last weekend's warm-up in Potchefstroom, the player himself didn't sound confident.
"I'm desperate to play and hopefully the injections will work tomorrow," Fleming said of his dislocated left thumb.
"It was a pretty severe dislocation. For the thumb to go out it takes a bit of force. I was a bit disappointed with today's net [session] - hoping that it had improved a bit more. I guess the last chance is the injection."
Bracewell said he was confident Fleming would play and take his usual spot at first drop.
" ... Fleming has a lot of experience and is coming off a good season in county cricket. He had a bit of discomfort when he was batting in the nets, but it is easing. I have no concerns about him playing in the test."
South African star and all-rounder Jacques Kallis, with 27 test centuries, has 10 more than the entire New Zealand top six. South Africa's openers - Herschelle Gibbs and Graeme Smith - share 26 between them. And Ashwell Prince (6), A B de Villiers (3) and Hashim Amla (1) have all had their moments.
In contrast, New Zealand openers Michael Papps and Craig Cumming have yet to score a test century and if Ross Taylor makes his debut at No 5 as expected, the only front-line batsmen with any history of success will be Fleming and Scott Styris.
The form of the Black Caps bowlers has been cause for some optimism, with the presence of Shane Bond in a test against South Africa for the first time an obvious topic of attention.
"Shane is obviously keen to get at the South Africans and he bowled with good hostility in the warm-up games," Bracewell said.
"He had a bit more rhythm and control each time he bowled and, with Chris Martin doing the same, it means tactically we have a lot of options."
While the New Zealand batsmen struggled, with the team going down to an 85-run loss to South Africa A last weekend, South Africa's batsmen were outstanding in Pakistan.
Leading run-scorer Kallis made three centuries and a 50 in four innings, scoring 421 runs and only being dismissed twice.
* Injury has forced the withdrawal of Wellington bowler James Franklin from the New Zealand one-day squad.
Franklin will have surgery on his right knee this month, forcing him to miss the one-day series against South Africa. With rehabilitation expected to take four to six months, Franklin is also not available for the Chappell-Hadlee series in Australia in December. Franklin limped out of a Wellington trial. A replacement would be named later this week.
SOUTH AFRICA
Graeme Smith (c), Herschelle Gibbs, Hashim Amla, Jacques Kallis, Ashwell Prince, AB de Villiers, Mark Boucher, Andre Nel, Paul Harris, Dale Steyn, Makhaya Ntini, Shaun Pollock
NEW ZEALAND
Daniel Vettori (c), Craig Cumming, Michael Papps, Stephen Fleming, Scott Styris, Ross Taylor, Jacob Oram, Brendon McCullum, Shane Bond, Michael Mason, Iain O'Brien, Chris Martin, Lou Vincent, Mark Gillespie, Jeetan Patel
- NZPA
