| Sleeping pills and
bouncy wickets Tuesday, 4 December, 2001 BBC Sport Online columnist Neil McKenzie reports from Perth, where South Africa are preparing for an eagerly-anticipated Test series with Australia. I've never been one for long haul flights, especially those where 99.9 per cent of the trip is over the big blue ocean. However, the one we had from Jo'burg to Perth on Saturday night was one of the better ones as we were travelling on an SAA jumbo jet and up-front in business class and the sleeping tablet the 'fizz' (physio Craig Smith) gave out was right on the button. So, the long and eagerly-awaited tour has finally arrived. This is my third cricketing trip to Australia, the first being last year in August for the three-match indoor series at the Colonial Stadium in Melbourne. My first trip was a pre-season tour with my old province Transvaal where we played a few matches against Western Australia here in Perth, then New South Wales in Sydney and Queensland in Brisbane. The three days in Perth so far have been filled with really good practice sessions and acclimatizing to the different pace and bounce of the wickets. The wicket definitely has a lot more bounce but fortunately it is consistent and there is also good pace for the quicks. It has also been very interesting watching the series between the Kiwis and Aussies here at the WACA and to see how the Kiwis dominated this Test match with a big total up-front. That is pretty much what we also want to do, hit some big scores up front and put the Aussies under some early pressure. We have a warm-up game starting on Wednesday at Lilac Hill and it is a lovely quaint little ground. I played here before on my provincial tour a few years back. All the guys will be looking to get some good match practice especially in advance of the first Test in Adelaide later in the month. We have a four-day game starting on Friday against WA at the WACA ground so hopefully I can get a game and get some decent time on the middle. Jet-lag On the social front, the guys have been quite quiet - probably due to the six hours jet-lag. But some have tried the good restaurants that Perth has to offer as well as a few of the bars for a quiet beer in the suburb of North Bridge. It appears from chatting to Allan Donald, Gary Kirsten and Polly (Shaun Pollock) that Australia has always been a good tour for the guys in the past. There is always a lot to do off the field with good, hard quality cricket on the field where no quarter is given or taken. I'm obviously keen to get a good start and the only way for that to happen is with time in the middle and converting that into runs. I'm not going to put too much pressure on myself but I will go out and enjoy the experience and play each ball on its merit. Until the next time, this is Neil McKenzie from the windy city of Perth for BBC Sport Online. |