'Gibbs will continue to open' - Simons

Eric Simons, the South African coach, has said that there were no plans to drop Herschelle Gibbs down the batting order despite his poor run in the last few months. With just one fifty in the last 23 innings, Gibbs has had a harrowing time with the bat.

The IOL website reported Simons as saying, "I don't think that [batting down the order] is what he needs at present. I think it is a confidence thing. It is not a case of the conditions getting him out. It is a case of whether he is confident or not. We do discuss it all the time, but I feel it is better that he stays at the top of the order."

South Africa are scheduled to play a practice match against an Essex-Middlesex second XI on Wednesday. Simons confirmed that Gibbs will continue to open the batting. "We will certainly keep him there for the match. The combinations we [will] use are those we want to use against the West Indies at the weekend."

Simons also spoke about the new bowling strategy that was planned for Lance Klusener. "He is swinging the ball quite nicely now and his rhythm is settling down again after his injury setback. But he is coming from quite wide, with the result that his angle of delivery is in line with the stumps. I want to get him a bit closer to the stumps so that the angle will enable him to beat the bat. We are trying to find a happy medium."

Looking back at South Africa's crushing win over Bangladesh, Simons felt that they could have bowled better. "We will go into the West Indies match with a lot of confidence now," he added. "It's nice to have a week like we've got. Sometimes you feel too rushed going into a game."

The combined XI are likely to put up a stiff challenge, with Owais Shah, the former England batsman, Mark Pettini and a few other promising batsmen in their ranks. They also have an experienced opening bowling pair in Paul Hutchison and Melvyn Betts.