Boks have stocked up on mints for Proteas
Cape Town - It's always a fun day out, and Thursday at Newlands will be no different when the Proteas and Springboks meet for the third time, and in the Nelson Mandela Legacy Cup for the second time.
The Springboks won last year - Damian de Allende made a point of mentioning that in this week's pre-match press conference - and they have been boosted by the late addition of former Proteas captain Graeme Smith.
Jean de Villiers was in high spirits on Tuesday, and he was full of banter when asked what measures his side would resort to in their bid for victory.
Proteas' stand-in skipper for their recent Test series win in Australia, Faf du Plessis, has provided the fuel for a joke or two.
Du Plessis was at the centre of 'Mintgate' in Australia when he was charged and found guilty of ball tampering in the second Test in Hobart when camera footage showed him shining the ball after rubbing his finger on a mint in his mouth.
"We have stocked up," De Villiers joked when asked about the possibility of the Boks using mints to help them shine the ball.
"It was my son's second birthday party yesterday and I just kept some of the sweets to the side.
"We'll have to use everything we can to get a win tomorrow. We are competitive and I suppose our skill set might not be enough."
The Boks, who will be captained by Pat Lambie, seem to be in a bit of disarray when it comes to picking their batting and bowling line-ups.
"We have a Whatsapp group going," De Villiers said.
"At the moment we have one fast bowler, four spinners, three wicket-keepers, one guy who wants to open the batting and about eight guys who want to bat between nine and 11."
That fast bowler may well be De Allende himself.
"I used to be a bit of a bowler in high school," the Stormers and Springbok centre said.
"I used to really enjoy watching Shaun Pollock and Brett Lee."
The Proteas, meanwhile, are preparing for Smith. And while the rest of the Bok side can obviously expect the Proteas bowling line-up o take their foot off the gas, Smith will be afforded no such courtesy.
"We'll be coming at him hard," said JP Duminy.
"I think we get one bumper (bouncer) an over but we might be using three bumpers an over ... we don't mind the extras."
Play starts at 18:00 and all proceeds will go to the Nelson Mandela Foundation.
Teams
Proteas squad
Hashim Amla (Cape Cobras), Mangaliso Mosehle (Highveld Lions), Faf du Plessis (Titans), JP Duminy (Cape Cobras), David Miller (Knights), Farhaan Behardien (Titans), Wayne Parnell (Cape Cobras), Dwaine Pretorius (Highveld Lions), Aaron Phangiso (Highveld Lions), Imran Tahir (Dolphins), Kyle Abbott (Warriors).
Springbok squad
Tiaan Liebenberg, Pat Lambie (captain), Faf de Klerk, Rohan Janse van Rensburg, Graeme Smith, Conrad Jantjes. Sergeal Petersen, Butch James, Damian De Allende, Trevor Nyakane, Jean de Villiers.
Not batting: Stephan Dippenaar and Percy Montgomery.