Polly and Co work hard to build some cheer
SOURCE: IOL, 17/11/02

Centurion - An hour after the close of play here on Sunday night, six members of the South African team finally signed the last of hundreds of autographs for excited youngsters.

It hasn't always looked the case in the past, but the national team cricketers are beginning to realise that their responsibilities off the field are as important as those on it.

Sunday was a perfect day for them to showcase their skills on the field and, crucially for the future of the game, entice new converts to the sport.

It was a hot, cloudless day and nearly 10 000 people made it to the ground, many of them kids with faces beaming at the prospect of seeing their heroes in the flesh.

The cricketers tried their utmost to appease what was a knowledgeable and appreciative crowd, but they needed to work their socks off to do that.

"We were sitting in the changeroom this morning and we all commented on the size of the crowd. The guys were saying people were probably coming to pick up a positive after the rugby," reckoned vice-captain Mark Boucher on Sunday night. "We realise we're professional sportsmen and we're nothing without the public. We're paid to entertain and we do that to the best of our ability.

"We've got a job to do for South Africa and the guys were keen to give the crowd something to cheer about."

They didn't always do so on Sunday. The first session in particular was a drab, desperate affair in which just 62 runs were scored in 32 overs.

It was hardly anything for the crowd to get enthusiastic about, but it was fascinating Test cricket anyway, especially with Ashwell Prince and Neil McKenzie at the wicket after Herschelle Gibbs and Jacques Kallis were both dismissed in the first hour of the day.

The spotlight has shone on Prince and McKenzie this week, with the axe hovering over their heads. They have looked tense and know their Test futures are up for grabs, especially with Daryll Cullinan back in the fray.

The pressure showed on Sunday. It didn't help that in Muttiah Muralitharan they were up against a man who will probably end up as Test cricket's all-time leading wicket-taker.

In a grim hour and a half they combined for just 39 runs off all of 136 balls. The crowds weren't exactly enthralled, but the purists - and selection convenor Omar Henry especially - loved it. "It's lovely. For me it's fantastic to see how they're going about their business," Henry said.

He wouldn't, however, have been too happy with both going out in their 20s, but even if it was not wildly exciting, the cricket was enthralling.

Sri Lanka were in with a real shout as they reduced South Africa to 264/6, but Boucher and Shaun Pollock wrested the initiative back with an infinitely more entertaining 132-run stand.

Both batted responsibly to give South Africa a 98-run lead with one wicket remaining at the close. Sri Lanka's "Murali" felt he bowled "brilliantly", yet had to wait 50 overs before he took his first wicket of the innings. He may still, however, have a major role to play at the tail-end of what's been a ferociously contested Test match.