Ottis Gibson

Ottis Gibson, South Africa's coach, allowed himself to smile in the lead-up to the first Test. And the major reason for that was that his team had got exactly the kind of pitch they wanted from Evan Flynt, the groundsman at Newlands. "There's a nice covering of grass on it. It looks quite hard and firm. We'll only know how it plays once the game starts," said Gibson. "It looks quite green with a nice covering of grass, exactly like we wanted it." But, Gibson warned that it would still not be just a case of turning up and knocking India over.