South Africa gamble on Gibbs to counter brilliance of Strauss

While Andrew Strauss, England's 220-run hero of the first Test, relaxed, went shopping and reacquainted himself with his wife, Ruth, South Africa were attempting to come up with a team that ends his enviable record. Strauss must be unique among Test cricketers. The England opener has won each of the eight Test matches he has played in for England and has never been out of form.

While Andrew Strauss, England's 220-run hero of the first Test, relaxed, went shopping and reacquainted himself with his wife, Ruth, South Africa were attempting to come up with a team that ends his enviable record. Strauss must be unique among Test cricketers. The England opener has won each of the eight Test matches he has played in for England and has never been out of form.

In an effort to break this sequence the South African selectors have made two changes to the squad which lost by seven wickets in Port Elizabeth. Graeme Smith's side will welcome back their dynamic opening batsman, Herschelle Gibbs, even if he has played precious little cricket since September's Champions Trophy in England.

In an attempt to prove he has recovered from the hand injury which kept him out of the first Test, Gibbs yesterday played for his province in a one-day match in Cape Town but only faced five balls and scored four runs before he was trapped lbw.

The South African selectors will still be tempted to play the 30-year-old in the second Test on Boxing Day because they know he is a class act. In 60 Test matches Gibbs has scored almost 4,700 runs at an average of of 48.5. Two of his 13 Test hundreds have been scored against England and he is a player that is capable of taking apart any bowling attack in the world.

Gibbs will be joined in Durban by the swing bowler, Charl Langeveldt, who took seven wickets for South Africa A against England in Potchefstroom. Nicky Boje is also available for selection after proving his fitness while the first Test was taking place. The left-arm spinner missed out at St George's Park because the selectors deemed he had not fully recovered from an operation which removed a cancerous growth from his thyroid gland. The 31-year-old is still undergoing a course of chemotherapy, but is expected to play on Sunday. Zander de Bruyn has been dropped from the squad.

Problems like these are alien to Strauss, who has had a remarkable start to his England career. But it is not just on the field where he has impressed. Strauss conducts himself meticulously while he is away from cricket and attempts to be co-operative with the media. But the 27-year-old was flummoxed when he was asked how he would handle a slump in form.

"I can't really answer that," he said, smiling, "because in Test cricket I have not yet been there. I am realistic enough to know that I am going to go through a bad spell at some stage and when it comes around it will be a challenge.

"When I have been out of form in county cricket it has been difficult and I assume it is worse in Test cricket, where the bowling is that much better and the pressures are that much more."

One gets the impression that when Strauss does go through a bad patch he will come out of it far more quickly than most of his contemporaries. When most players lose form they constantly seek advice and assurance and alter the way they play. James Anderson, the England fast bowler, is a classic example. When he first played for England, Anderson used to just run up and bowl. He bowled beautifully and looked a star in the making. Now, after spending 12 months on the sidelines, he appears to be thinking about 101 different things as he makes his way to the crease, and he is struggling to regain what he had in the first place.

Strauss, though, has a very straightforward attitude to it all. "The one thing I have always tried to do when I am out of form is to keep things as simple as possible," he said. "I try not to worry about the technical issues and I try to clear my brain completely. Then I can watch each ball as it comes and play the situation. Batting becomes hard when you start thinking about what might happen if I fall over or when I edge one.

"Test cricket is a mental game more than anything. There are loads of guys with differing techniques and different ways of scoring runs, but it is just a question of getting yourself mentally right. So far it has worked out pretty well for me."

SOUTH AFRICA SQUAD (for second Test, Durban, Sunday): G C Smith (capt), N Boje, Hashim Amla, A B de Villiers, H H Dippenaar, H H Gibbs, A J Hall, J N Kallis, C K Langeveldt, M Ntini, S M Pollock, J A Rudolph, D W Steyn, T L Tsolekile.