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A mouth watering fast bowling tussle seems to be on cards as South Africa will take on Australia at Centurion today in first test match.

While many a cricket fans are lining up to see which is the better bowling attack and will south africa be able to finally remove their chokers tag, there could be disappointment. The news coming from South Africa is depressing as the cunning groundsmen of South Africa has removed the grass from the pitch on request of south african team management to save their batsmen from the bouncers and bone breaking deliveries of Mitchell Johnson.

The squads are as follows:

South Africa Team : GC Smith, HM Amla, AB de Villiers, JP Duminy, F du Plessis, D Elgar, RK Kleinveldt, R McLaren, M Morkel,WD Parnell, AN Petersen, RJ Peterson, VD Philander, DW Steyn, TL Tsolekile

Australia Team : MJ Clarke, BJ Haddin, JM Bird, AJ Doolan, RJ Harris, MC Henriques, MG Johnson, NM Lyon, SE Marsh,JL Pattinson, CJL Rogers, PM Siddle, SPD Smith, DA Warner, SR Watson

Dale Steyn would like improve on his recent bad showing in test matches, even as Mitchell Johnson again returns to South Africa in form of his life

Against India, all the groundsmen were specifically told to let the grass grow as there was no real fast bowler, but against Australia south african batsmen don't want to become sitting ducks. It is well known fact that most south aftrican batsmen lack technique to handle fast bowling at test level.

While pace battle is on the cards, here are some interesting views coming from cricket fans of both australia and south africa:

truththecovers says:"Everyone is licking their lips re the match-up of the 2 bowling attacks, which is wrong in my opinion. It should realy be looked at as the SA batting line-up vs the Aus bowling attack and vice versa. Looked at it this way, it becomes a fairly simple equation from there. No one in their right minds would give the Aus batting line-up lower odds to outlast the SA bowling attack than the other way around. The absence of Kallis is a big factor, but the SA top 5 will prove yet again a very hard nut to crack. Harder than their counter parts."

Madan Shivkumar is not ready to give Australia any points for their Ashes victory "I guess the Aussies are reading too much into a victory over a battered and bruised England. The saffers will be much harder to beat with the kind of line up they have,never mind kallis s absence - he was not the player he was anyway; steyn philander and morkel are more than enough to bowl out the Aussies considering that they are going to have 2 new faces in the XI. Most of the Aussies are confidence players and if the saffers can break the rhythm of Johnson then its gonna be pretty hard for the Aussies." 

 Greatestgame, the supporter of South Africa cricket is irked when someone mentioned about the inability of south africans to handle spin bowling, he says: "Stop making excuses for, or raising the topic of, SC teams here. We hear that "SA cannot play spin." Now you say "SA cannot play pace." How did SA get to be #1 they can't play pace or spin?SA national cricket is dominated by genuine pace bowling, on quick, hard tracks - the bowling they grow up, & thrive on, & play every match.

In 2012, before SA's series in Eng, debate raged about "the best" attack, much like today. The English attack, pronounced as "the best in the world" by Eng media & management, took 2 for 637 dec in test 1. Amla 311* Kallis 182* Smith 131 etc.

SA destroyed Johnson & Starc that year, at Aus' quickest venue, Perth. Amla scored 196 at SR 88.68. ABdV scored 169 at SR 91.84. Smith scored 84 at SR 84.These guys can decimate genuine pace, and this series has NOTHING AT ALL to do with SC teams."

Comments apart, what can really trouble South Africa is the egoistic nature. They think they are too talented, but they are far from it. We saw in a series against India how at times they did not wanted to be out on the park and were trying fast bowlers in fading light to run away from competition. This lack of fight will hurt them badly against Australia who are known to take advantage of such moments by playing aggressive cricket. South Africa don't have ability to handle pressure situations, in absence of Jaques Kallis in particular.

Fact tha Ab Devilliers never contributes under pressure and that Vernon Philander is more of a threat only in tailor made conditions, it won't be a surprise if Australia defeats South Africa. Also to be noted is that South Africa has recently won more matches against minnows than a top test team. The victory against India was gifted by umpires.