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Kleinveldt raring to go at WACA

Cape Town - Proteas seamer Rory Kleinveldt hopes his childhood dream of playing at the WACA in Perth comes true, as the series against Australia gears up for the Grand Finale starting on Friday.

World No 2 bowler Vernon Philander is on track to be fit for the final Test and should retake his place in the playing XI. However, expected quick conditions will give the selectors an interesting selection conundrum which Kleinveldt hopes will go in his favour.

“I would definitely love to play at the WACA,” he said. “It has been a dream of mine to be honest, and from what I have heard from past players they have said that it is one of the quickest wickets in the world. It would be nice for me to get on there and have a go.”

Australia v South Africa 2nd Test Day 5 Highlights

Kleinveldt overcame a disappointing debut performance to take three vital wickets in Australia’s second innings in Adelaide, and looked every part the accomplished bowler he has been on the domestic circuit.

“Going into the game not thinking that I was going to play helped a lot,” he said about his game-day nerves. “Finding out half-an-hour before the game that I was playing because of Vernon’s injury, which is obviously not a nice thing to come into the side for, made me a lot more relaxed than what I was in Brisbane. I had nothing to lose, so I went out there and did my best.”

The bowlers have also been working hard on the reoccurring no-ball problem, which has been a demoralising feature for the attack in the current series.

“I’m not too sure to be honest,” Kleinveldt said when asked about the cause. “In the warm-up game in Sydney I don’t think any of us bowled a no-ball. It has been a problem for both teams in the last two Test matches, but I can’t really put a finger on it. It is definitely something that we have to work harder on before the next Test match.

“We did some work with Allan (Donald) between Test matches. It was a lot better in the second Test but still not great. We still bowled six or seven no-balls in each innings and we would obviously like to get that down to nothing.”

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