Hall put on standby for Gibbs

Highveld Strikers allrounder Andrew Hall has been put on standby to cover for Herschelle Gibbs is unable to play in the sixth Standard Bank one-day international against Sri Lanka at the Wanderers on Wednesday.

Gibbs, man of the match in the fifth ODI in Bloemfontein on Sunday has a strained muscle on the left side of his abdomen and may be forced out of the South African team just four innings after returning from a six-month ban.

A final decision on Gibbs' fitness will be take on Wednesday morning, but if he is cleared to play Hall will be left with a scramble to get to Kimberley in time for the Strikers' Standard Bank Cup match against Griquas.

Gibbs' injury is not thought to be serious, but there must be concern that he might not be available for the third Test match starting at SuperSport Park on Saturday.

With Gary Kirsten already out of the Test, South Africa would be hard-pressed to come up with a fourth opening bat, although Boeta Dippenaar's current form is such that should the home side have to cast around for a partner for him, they would still go into the match brimming with confidence.

Jonty Rhodes also has a slight injury after chipping a bone in the little finger of his left hand. He will, however, play and bat with a splint shielding the finger.

With the one-day series already comprehensively taken by South Africa, the chief interest in the last match lies largely in the attempt by Shaun Pollock's team to match the 11-game winning streak recorded by the West Indies in the mid 1980s.

Pollock, though, has played down talk of a record.

"If you get a record it's great," he said, "but I don't think that it's our driving force. We're just going out to do well. It isn't high on our list of priorities, but it's nice to be part of a team that that has put together a run of consecutive wins. It would be another feather in our cap."