Mumbai, Dec 25
As South Africa gear up for the Boxing Day Test against Pakistan, the first game of the two-match series winning which will seal them a place in the World Test Championship final, legendary pacer Allan Donald has warned the team that Pakistan would not make things easy for the hosts after getting a timely boost with their clean sweep in the ODI series.
Pakistan handed South Africa a first-ever clean sweep in a home ODI series, leaving the hosts scratching their head before the crucial Test series which starts with a Boxing Day clash at the Supersport Park in Centurion on Thursday.
Allan Donald, who gave credit to Pakistan for playing superb cricket to win the ODI series, said South Africa will have to be at their best as they need to win one of the two upcoming Test matches to seal a berth in the final of the World Test Championship.
"I know that now South Africa is on the brink of (reaching the WTC final). I think they only have to win one Test match out of the two to play in the Test Championship final. But Pakistan is not going to make it easy. With this confidence they've taken from the ODI series win into the Test series, it's not going to be easy to stop them. So, and especially on these two grounds, Pretoria and Cape Town, with pace and bounce, we know we're going to get a good Test match pitch there," said Donald in an interaction organised by the SA20 India.
However, Donald said South Africa's historic 0-3 home series defeat to Pakistan is not a reason to ring the alarm bells for the upcoming World Cup, considering that the team has done well in the 2024 T20 World Cup and the 2023 World Cup in India and is in the hunt for a spot in the WTC final despite being hampered by absence of some key players due to injuries.
"South Africa, with that strong team that they've got, they've kept on playing other players. And I think that Rob Walter wants to see what he has in the tank for the next Cricket World Cup. He's played a lot of players, he's rotated a lot of players. So, you know, I guess that time is now right to go and see what he's got and who he can trust and believe in for the next cricket World Cup," he said.
Donald also said that a bilateral series of 2-3 matches has become a norm nowadays unlike his times when they played five Tests and as many ODIs, with players figuring in a lot more matches every season because of the proliferation of the T20 leagues around the world.