Zimbabwe lose pacemen for First Test against South Africa

Zimbabwe suffered a huge blow ahead of the First Test against South Africa on Friday with the withdrawal of pace bowlers Andy Blignaut and Brighton Watambwa because of injury.

Coach Carl Rackemann revealed on Tuesday that Blignaut had hurt his ankle while Watambwa, who was just making a return from injury, is having problems with both knees.

The duo join Brian Strang who suffered a hamstring injury a fortnight ago and was left out of the provisional 17-member squad for the First Test at Harare Sports Club named by the Zimbabwe Cricket Union last week.

Strang enjoyed an outstanding performance for Zimbabwe in the last home series against India and West Indies, and also enjoyed good spells against South Africa during the last two Test matches in 1999.

"We are stricken with some serious injuries," said Rackemann. "Brian Strang, Andy Blignaut and now Brighton Watambwa will not make it for the First Test. It's not good news for us. With those three players out it reduces our bowling options. It's a bit early for me to say how our bowling line-up will look like on Friday. It would have been good to field a full-strength squad."

Although Rackemann could not name possible replacements for the injured trio, there is a strong possibility of a late call-up for CFX Academy's leading bowler Sean Ervine.

Rackemann, who returned to Harare at the weekend after a month-long holiday in London, was impressed by how the preparations had gone so far. "I only turned up at the weekend but the report on the previous two weeks is good. Our batting looks good with the return from injury of Andy Flower and Stuart Carlisle."

Rackemann, who will be leading Zimbabwe for the last time in a Test series, said that he knew very little about South Africa given that it was also his first series against them.

"I don't know a great deal about their game. When we sit down to talk about the game, I will be looking for a lot of input from the players. This is because the Zimbabwe players know a lot more about the South African side than I do. But South Africa are a very strong side and we are looking forward to the Test series. We want to play good cricket against them."

The Australian coach was also disappointed that South Africa will be missing the services of world number three bowler Allan Donald, who pulled out of the team on Monday after being felled by a bout of flu.

"I hear that Gary Kirsten is also doubtful. I would rather play against teams at full strength so to me it is disappointing that Donald is not coming. I just hope that Kirsten makes it."

He added that Zimbabwe must have learned a lesson from the two home series against India and West Indies. "If you look at our winter cricket there is a trend that our first-innings batting at Queens Sports Club was terrible. We have got to start better in the series so that we don't have to try and come from behind to level the series."