CRICKET: Jon Swift
THE initial reaction to the International Cricket=20 Council’s (ICC) ruling on the naming of squads for the=20 1996 World Cup in Pakistan was that the process was=20 being hurried along with undue haste.
Perhaps so, but it needs to be looked at more closely=20 from this country’s perspective. Not least of all=20 because the final 14 could — in theory at least –=20 have nothing to do with the list originally submitted.
The first provisional list of 20 to represent South=20 Africa is scheduled to be released on November 20, the=20 day the first Test against England at Centurion Park=20 ends and a further provisional list of 18 will be=20 published on December 31, the day after the fourth Test=20 at St George’s Park in Port Elizabeth.
The final 14 will only be named on January 21 after the=20 last of the seven one-day internationals against=20 England in Port Elizabeth.
It seems a tiresome and tedious procedure and one, it=20 must be added, which will bring undue pressure on=20 players involved in an arduous series to perform or=20 forget about selection.
But this will be lightened for some of the players who=20 don’t make the final 14 by a South Africa A tour to=20 England in 1996, a tour which, with the future of the=20 game in view, is arguably more important than the World=20 Cup. Especially when it is borne in mind that Darren=20 Gough and Dominic Cork both came out of the testing=20 ground of the England A tour to South Africa.
The selectoral hoops the ICC have the World Cup nations=20 jumping through have all the hallmarks of making work=20 for everyone involved. But with the South Africa A tour=20 in mind, perhaps they have done this country a favour=20 rather than a disservice.