Marshall out but Astle plays

The injury-plagued New Zealand squad got one small piece of good news when Nathan Astle confirmed that the bone chips in his right knee weren't serious enough for him to miss the second Test against South Africa, which starts on Thursday at Newlands, Cape Town. However, just to balance out the positive news, Hamish Marshall has been ruled out of the match with a rib injury.

"It just niggly," Astle told NZPA. "I've had an x-ray, there's a couple of little bone spurs but there's nothing they can do about it. It's good enough to play on." Astle made just 4 and 2 in New Zealand's 128-run defeat in the first Test, but was optimistic that the team could bounce back. "I think we're going to have three result-orientated wickets, the series is still alive."

Marshall, though, hasn't recovered enough from the blows he took from Makhaya Ntini during the first Test. "Hamish won't be available for the match, his ribs just haven't improved enough," the New Zealand coach John Bracewell told a news conference in Cape Town. "He's a bit like that character from 'The Fugitive', that one-armed man everybody was looking for."

Either Jamie How or Michael Papps is likely to step up into the team, which has also endured the news that Shane Bond will miss the rest of the tour. James Franklin, the third player battling . knee problems (fluid in his left knee joint), had light practice sessions at Newlands on Monday.

Meanwhile, the pitch for the Test is likely to be more batsman-friendly than it was when Australia played South Africa last month. That match finished in three days as South Africa's master plan to nullify Shane Warne's threat by watering the pitch backfired badly with Stuart Clark taking 9 for 89.

According to Bracewell the track will offer some variable bounce and help Vettori. "The wicket is reasonably bare at the ends," he told NZPA. "We've been told while it won't spin a great deal there will be bounce for spinners. Dan [Vettori] will be licking his lips at that opportunity."

Christo Erasmus, the Newlands groundsman, said that the challenge had been to produce a good pitch despite all the rain and the onset of winter. "It's the latest we've had a match at Newlands in my time here," he said. "There has been a lot of rain around. Although we are still having warm days it is taking longer for the ground to dry out."