"Much has been made of us not playing a warm-up match before the series. To be honest, I don’t understand the fuss," writes Jacques Kallis in the Hindu on the eve of the first Test against India.

A couple of days ago I admitted that the selection problems and off-field controversies that have hung around South African cricket for the last month or so had adversely affected the team. I was asked the question and I didn’t see any point in not telling the truth it has been unsettling and emotions have run high at times. But let me be equally honest now: we are fully focussed and by the time we walk on to the field on Wednesday morning, the last thing on our minds will be selectors or administrators.