Curator confident of no Newlands repeat
Cape Town curator Evan Flint learned in the space of seven sessions in 2011 to never say never when it comes to cricket.
But the fresh-faced Newlands groundsman is upbeat the surface for the Test series decider between Australia and South Africa will be befitting such an occasion.
Flint feared for his job when the two sides most recently clashed at the venue, the infamous Test where Australia were skittled for 47 as 23 wickets fell on an unfathomable day two.
It's unlikely this Test will offer a repeat, mainly because it is being staged in March instead of November.
"Hopefully it will go the distance and just be a good Test wicket. You don't want it over in two days," Flint told AAP.
"We're right at the end of the season, so that definitely has an impact on the pace of the pitches. They will slow down.
"It is obviously a lot hotter now (compared to the Test in 2011). Cape Town gets a lot of winter rainfall, so we were coming out of our rainfall season then."
Many in the Australian camp are tipping another flat and dry wicket, similar to the surface that South Africa romped to a 231-run win in Port Elizabeth on.
St George's Park curator Adrian Carter noted before the second Test that he would not cut the wicket unless given the green light by the South African camp.
Flint suggested there had been no overt attempts from the home team to influence or pressure him.
"The feeling I get from Graeme (Smith) and Russell (Domingo) is that they're in a pretty good space as a team," he said.
"So they're good enough to deal with any conditions, their record shows that. It's not like they come to me and say 'this is what we want'.
"There's no button you can push to change the pitch. Newlands has its characteristics and I expect it to be pretty similar to what it has been."
Newlands has traditionally favoured seam and spin, and Flint suggested it should do so again.
