South Africa are anxiously waiting on star batsman Hashim Amla's return to Dubai in time for the second Test against Pakistan starting from Wednesday, team manager Mohammed Mossajee said. Amla is in Durban with his wife for the imminent birth of the couple's second child.
Team manager Mohammed Mossajee told reporters after team practice on Sunday: "We are still waiting for Amla to return." Meanwhile, bowling coach Alan Donald has returned home on family business.
"Alan (Donald) has returned home for family reasons, he has been granted excess leave, we are not sure whether he will return or not because he needs some time to sort things out," said Moosajee.
Donald, 47, had 330 Tests and 272 one-day wickets during an illustrious career for South Africa and has been bowling coach since last year. Vincent Barnes, who is the high performance coach in South Africa, and is also a selector, who was due to join for the one-days will be arriving on Monday to take care of the bowling coach duties, said the manager.
Both teams play five one-day and two Twenty20 internationals after the two-Test series.
South African coach Russell Domingo hoped anyone replacing Amla will come good.
"Hashim needed to be with his wife and that's out of our control, we craved to have him in the side and craved to have him in the side not just as a player but as a personality in the side," said Domingo of the star batsman who hit 118 runs in South African first innings in Abu Dhabi. Despite Amla's century, South Africa were bowled out for 249 and went on to lose the first Test by seven wickets.
"Amla offers a lot of calmness so he will also be missed but its' not confirmed that he is not coming," said Domingo, still hoping Amla, the number one batsman in Test rankings, joins in time.
"Hashim is a tough guy to replace because of his performances but this South Africa side has depth and hopefully the player who does come in performs well."
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