KwaZulu-Natal update

NATAL coach Phil Russell may have had his blood pressure elevated to dangerous levels during his team's narrow two-wicket win over Boland at the weekend, but he will not be relaxing during the 10 days off before the next game.

Relieved that his A team eventually secured victory in their first home SuperSport Series match of the season, Russell will head for East London on Wednesday to watch over some of the promising youngsters in the Natal B squad.

The Natal A team's next match is against Western Province in Cape Town from October 28, the day before the first Test against Zimbabwe starts, so there are likely to be a few spaces in the senior side. Consequently, the main focus during the Natal B/Border B UCB Bowl match will be on the performances of Craig Sugden, Ahmed Amla, Wade Wingfield, Ashraf Mall, Jon Kent, Goolam Bodi, Keith Storey and Gary Gilder, who are all in contention for promotion to the first team.

Russell can expect to lose Shaun Pollock, Lance Klusener and Jonty Rhodes, even though his form was worrying against Boland, to the national squad. The Natal coach said his team had tried to chase down their meagre target of 94 too quickly and that is why they landed themselves in trouble against Boland.

"We played all the positive cricket, but with the rain about we didn't want to waste the chance of winning. But the batsmen decided they wanted boundaries or nothing, instead of working the ball around the park and picking up the ones and twos," Russell said, adding Free State had the same problem as they astonishingly failed to reach a target of 119 off 32 overs in their draw with Western Province.

"Boland's approach was like that of a soccer team playing away from home, they go into the match doing everything not to lose, but hoping to sneak a goal at the end," the former Derbyshire stalwart added.

The following Natal B team will play against Border B in a UCB Bowl three-day game in East London from Thursday to Saturday. The same XI will be fielded in the limited-overs fixture on Sunday. Natal B: Mark Sanders, Craig Sugden, Ahmed Amla, Wade Wingfield, Ashraf Mall, Jon Kent, Kyle Bender (capt), Goolam Bodi, Gregg Fry, Keith Storey, Gary Gilder. Twelfth man < Desigan Reddy.