Proteas won't eye rankings

Johannesburg - The Proteas Test squad will concentrate their focus on winning individual Test matches rather than worrying about regaining the No. 1 ranking when the series against England starts at SuperSport Park next Wednesday.

The Proteas lost the No. 1 ranking through no fault of their own when India completed a 2-0 win in their home series against Sri Lanka last week.

"The No 1 ranking is always nice to have but we haven't played this format since March," commented Proteas' coach Mickey Arthur.

"Other teams have been playing during this period and will go up and down the rankings. That is just the nature of the rankings.

"All we can do is to control what we can and that is to play good Test cricket Test series after Test series. If we do that we will get that No 1 Test ranking back and that is how we got it in the first place.

"We put the emphasis on every Test match and then on every Test series and then see where that takes us. That is where our minds are at the moment."

Arthur said that clarity on the fitness of Jacques Kallis would only be achieved by the end of the weekend at the earliest and, if he was only fit to play as a batsman, he would only be considered for selection if it was not going to set back his bowling recovery.

"We will have a good indication of where Jacques is by Sunday," he said. "He has felt a lot better. But we won't know until we put him through proper training, bowling proper spells and batting for a length of time.

"If Jacques is available to bat only, he most certainly will do that. It just depends on whether batting is going to further hinder the recovery process and that is something that we need to weigh up. If he can bat with no comebacks, then we will certainly consider him to bat in the No 4 position."

Kallis suffered the fracture of the cartilage attached to the seventh rib earlier in the season and was forced to miss the MTN ODI series against England. Sapa