The International Cricket Council has handed Pakistan coach Mickey Arthur one demerit point and a warning after he accepted a charge of showing dissent following their six-wicket loss to SA in the first Test at Centurion Park on Friday.
Arthur stormed into third umpire Joel Wilson's room and questioned a decision to deny Azhar Ali a clean catch at first slip off South African opener Dean Elgar that had been given out on the field, but was overturned by Wilson on review.
Arthur, who has also coached his native SA and Australia, was seething at the incident when the home side were 16 for one in pursuit of a modest target of 149 on a difficult wicket. He was officially charged by Wilson for "showing dissent at an umpire's decision during an international match" after questioning the decision.
"After the match, the Pakistan coach admitted the offence and accepted the sanction proposed by match referee David Boon. As such there was no need for a formal hearing," an ICC statement said.
The Proteas think-tank of coach Ottis Gibson and captain Faf du Plessis may be tempted to sacrifice batsman Theunis de Bruyn to accommodate returning all-rounder Vernon Philander for the second Test in Cape Town on Thursday.
They could rejig the team that comfortably won by six wickets inside three days at SuperSport Park this week after the unexpected man-of-the-match performance by fast bowler Duanne Olivier.
Olivier, who stood in for Philander at Centurion, returned match figures of 11/96, making it difficult to leave him out of the New Year's Test. Winning at Newlands will wrap up the series for SA.
But conditions will suit Philander's ability to extract swing and seam movement.
Du Plessis called the dilemma a "good headache" and said they would decide after they had studied the Newlands pitch.
"Vern [Philander] at Newlands picks himself because his record there is unbelievable, he will definitely be back in the team and the selection headache starts from there," said Du Plessis. "The question is do we play with seven batters or six, or do we go with four seamers. Those discussions will take place and it will be tough to leave Duanne out because he created a lot of mental scars on the opposition."
Dropping De Bruyn, who scored 39 at Centurion, will be viewed by some as unfair but the brains trust may feel that going with four fast bowlers will help the Proteas take 20 wickets again.
If they go this route, Quinton de Kock will move to No 6 and Philander will come on as the bowling all-rounder at No 7 to join Rabada, Dale Steyn, Olivier and Maharaj. Dean Elgar, Aiden Markram, Hashim Amla and Du Plessis will need to build the foundation for Temba Bavuma, De Kock and the rest of the tail.
Gibson will be happy that Elgar, Amla, Bavuma and De Kock scored runs under difficult batting conditions at Centurion but he will be concerned at the poor form of Du Plessis and Markram.
Amla and Bavuma went into the first Test under pressure but Du Plessis said he was never worried about them. "Hash [Amla] has done absolutely nothing different and that has been his trademark.
Watching him behind the scenes, he sticks to the same routines whether he scores runs or doesn't. His mental attributes remain the same, he is a very level-headed and calm guy and he doesn't get frantic when he doesn't score runs.
"Bavuma batted really well. It's only a matter of time before he starts putting big numbers on the board. He left the ball well and saved us in the first innings with Quinny [De Kock], who also batted very well."
Pakistan captain Sarfraz Ahmed admitted their batting must improve in Cape Town where they welcome back all-rounder Mohammad Abbas from injury. "A few good points for us is the way Babar Azam, Imam-ul-Haq and Shan Masood batted, they showed character."
- Additional reporting by AFP..