Smith expected to recover for third Test

Graeme Smith, South Africa's captain, is expected to recover from an injured hamstring to face West Indies in the third Test at Cape Town on Friday.

Smith did not take the field on fourth day of the second Test at Durban in what was described as a "precautionary measure" by Shane Jabaar, the team physio, who is hopeful that Smith will be fit by Friday.

If Smith is unable to play, Mark Boucher would take over the captaincy and Gary Kirsten would be the obvious choice to replace Smith at the top of the order. Meanwhile, Paul Adams is expected to be recalled at the expense of Andrew Hall.

West Indies, on the other hand, have even more injury problems of their own. Chris Gayle is still suffering from a torn hamstring, while Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Corey Collymore are now also doubts.

But Brian Lara has other things on his mind, namely the inconsistent West Indies bowling attack. "Your backs are against the wall when the team batting against you is scoring at four runs an over," Lara said. "We've got to be able to pull things back and be more consistent in line and length."

South Africa (probable) 1 Graeme Smith (capt), 2 Herschelle Gibbs, 3 Jacques Rudolph, 4 Jacques Kallis, 5 Gary Kirsten, 6 Neil McKenzie, 7 Mark Boucher (wk), 8 Shaun Pollock, 9 Paul Adams, 10 Makhaya Ntini, 11 Andre Nel.

West Indies (from) Brian Lara (capt), Ramnaresh Sarwan, Chris Gayle, Wavell Hinds, Daren Ganga, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Dwayne Smith, Ridley Jacobs (wk), Carlton Baugh, Vasbert Drakes, Mervyn Dillon, Fidel Edwards, Ravi Rampaul, Adam Sanford, Dave Mohammed, Corey Collymore.