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Ball in Mashrafe's court

Sports Reporter m Bloemfontein
It apparently looked that the team management threw the baU into the court of Mashrafe Bin Mortaza about his fitness ahead of the first Test of the two-match series which will start today at the OUTsurance Oval.
So the pace spearhead will be available for the first Test against the Proteas if only the bowler himself declared hundred percent fit to take the load of the five-day game.
None wants to go to the field without the main strike bowler especially against opponents like South Africa on their own soil but both coach Jamie Siddons and captain Mohammad Ashraful cautioned that it would be difficult for a bowler to perform his best after missing from action for a week.
"He (Mashrafe) has not bowling since the second one-day match, so it s very difficult for him to play in the first Test but hopefully he will be okay for the second Test. He need to take one week preparation for us to be available for the second one,” said Siddons while talking with the reporters yesterday.
"True without Mashrafe the bowling attack is very inexperienced. If he feels good today and feel no pain in his back then we can think about him for first Test but it doesn't look likely," he observed.
Ashraful echoed with his coach's sentiment and he was worried with the fact that it would be difficult for him to make up if Mashrafe started to complain in the middle of theTest match.
"Everything now depends on him. If he feels that he is hundred per cent fit then definitely he will play the match. Who wants to go into a match without his main bowler?" asked Ashraful.
"But the problem is that it's very difficult to take the load of a five-day match after being out of action for seven days," added the ace batsman.
Mashrafe however wasn't too much bothered with lack of practice for seven days rather he said that he always played the matches with some pain.
“I have the confidence that I can give my hundred per cent even if 1 play any match without practicing for two-three weeks. But the problem is that I am not sure about my pain. We are going to play the match against a big team, so it would be hard for the team to make up if I failed to bowl after five-six overs,” said a confident Mashrafe.“My condition is good nowand I hardly feel any problem in movement but I can't say what would happen when I started my bowling. It's a very difficult situation for me. What I can assure is that I can manage a little bit of pain,” he added.
Whatever the fact was now everything depends on Mashrafe whether he will play his first Test in South African soil today.