ACCORDING to Nadine Gordimer, "A desert is a place without expectation."
According to Makhaya Ntini, a desert is as good a place as any to lace up your running shoes and head for the horizon.
That's what Ntini would have SA's players - in particular their fast bowlers - do soon after they touch down in the United Arab Emirates on Saturday to play Pakistan in two tests, five one-day internationals and two T20s.
Ntini was not among the quickest or aggressive of fast bowlers. But, as one of six South Africans to have played 100 tests, and whose total of 20 834 test deliveries is surpassed only by Shaun Pollock's 24 353, he was uncannily consistent.
Wherever and whenever he bowled, Ntini was invariably Ntini: relentless, disciplined and indefatigable.
"That was the reason I used to go running in every place I played," Ntini said yesterday.
"That's the best way to get used to any conditions - run 10km in the heat of whatever country you are in."
Ntini would have SA's current crop of quicks do exactly that even in the UAE, where the average daytime high for October is 35.4°C . His advice did not stop there.
"You've got to get batsmen to drive on those slow pitches; if you let them play off the back foot they will hurt you," he said.
"But the most important thing is for the attack to work together. You can't fight as one man in those conditions."
SA team physiotherapist Brandon Jackson will have to keep the team running smoothly despite the heat and the flat pitches. The bowlers will be at the top of his priority list.
Ntini's desert heat lessons
ACCORDING to Nadine Gordimer, "A desert is a place without expectation."
According to Makhaya Ntini, a desert is as good a place as any to lace up your running shoes and head for the horizon.
That's what Ntini would have SA's players - in particular their fast bowlers - do soon after they touch down in the United Arab Emirates on Saturday to play Pakistan in two tests, five one-day internationals and two T20s.
Ntini was not among the quickest or aggressive of fast bowlers. But, as one of six South Africans to have played 100 tests, and whose total of 20 834 test deliveries is surpassed only by Shaun Pollock's 24 353, he was uncannily consistent.
Wherever and whenever he bowled, Ntini was invariably Ntini: relentless, disciplined and indefatigable.
"That was the reason I used to go running in every place I played," Ntini said yesterday.
"That's the best way to get used to any conditions - run 10km in the heat of whatever country you are in."
Ntini would have SA's current crop of quicks do exactly that even in the UAE, where the average daytime high for October is 35.4°C . His advice did not stop there.
"You've got to get batsmen to drive on those slow pitches; if you let them play off the back foot they will hurt you," he said.
"But the most important thing is for the attack to work together. You can't fight as one man in those conditions."
SA team physiotherapist Brandon Jackson will have to keep the team running smoothly despite the heat and the flat pitches. The bowlers will be at the top of his priority list.