V Roger Prabasarkar : Cricket
Despite two wonderful victories against Pakistan and the West Indies on Monday and Tuesday, South Africa still had not made certain of a place in the final of the quadrangular one-day tournament, Hansie Cronje’s assertion to the contrary at the post-match prize giving function notwithstanding.
With so many accidents befalling the squad as a result of fate being tempted, it was a scary moment and one that revealed the first, tiny chink in the armour of preparation and research that characterise the national captain. It was still possible for Pakistan to beat Sri Lanka and the Sri Lankans to beat South Africa leaving all three teams with two wins but South Africa languishing with an inferior net run rate after the closeness of their victories.
In short, Cronje and Woolmer had to keep their team together and in form for the last game against Sri Lanka on Thursday. Far, far more importantly, though, Cronje needed to win the toss. The tournament has been discredited by the decision to play each game under lights; the evening dew is so heavy that the side batting second has an effective advantage of close to 40 runs.
Whether or not the toss of a coin puts South Africa into the final of the tournament or not, the players will return to their homes as successful and happy players. The after-glow of their Test series victory has barely diminished and that, of course, is what they will be remembered by. It follows, then, that the squad will be rewarded en masse with a tour to Australia that will occupy 10 weeks and could, if Australia are beaten in the three-Test series, result in South Africa moving to the top of the unoffical Test ratings.
Apparaently, though, one member of the squad in Pakistan will not be going to Australia: Andrew Hudson. The 32-year-old opening batsman has had an exceedingly difficult tour during which he played just one first-class game and came into the one- day tournament desperately lacking in match practice and possibly confidence as well. He failed in both of South Africa’s first two games with scores of two and six.
With a young family and a secure, successful cricket career in its autumn rather than its spring, Hudson is philosophical about the possibility of spending 10 weeks on the road as a deputy to vice-captain Gary Kirsten and young Adam Bacher who seems determined (and good enough) to stay in the team for a long time.
Hudson feels that he would be better off staying in Durban when the rest of the squad leave for Perth on November 20. “There are a number of reasons,” he explains. “Firstly, I would be playing first-class cricket week in and week out, not just having nets, so hopefully I could remain match fit and in good form. Secondly, there isn’t the same possibility of players becoming ill in Australia as there is on the subcontinent. Injury and loss of form are still possibilities, of course, but then again, because of the ease of travel to Australia I could be there within a day, if required.”
It seems certain, then, that Hudson will remain at home. For the rest, including young reserve wicketkeeper Mark Boucher and veteran Fanie de Villiers, who has looked the part since his arrival and is desperate to tour Australia, Christmas and the New Year will be celebrated in Melbourne and Sydney respectively.
Brian McMillan and Jacques Kallis are also certainties while Brett Schultz could rightly feel aggrieved if he was not recalled after injuring his shoulder during the first Test. He had looked very impressive and thrives on the extra “edge” added to the competition by Australia. Rumours emanating from South Africa seem to imply that the board is likely to add a couple of junior players who could gain experience of touring as well as provide extra bowling in the nets.
But back to Pakistan. The relationship between South Africa’s players and their media has been the subject of discussion and, more pertinently, enormous envy among cricket journalists around the world. It seems, however, that they have finally started on the road towards catching up with the rest of the world – and becoming less buddy and more “cordial”.
Daryll Cullinan, we understand, completed a 15-minute diatribe against a scribe in his hotel room which made the front page of the writer’s newspaper while the coach, Bob Woolmer, says that too many things have been written that shouldn’t have been and that “certain things that happen on tour should stay on tour”.
Whatever the problems, however, they are nothing to compare to those of the locals who deal with crisis within the game on a daily basis. The latest to hit Pakistan cricket was the outburst by former captain Ramiz Raja who wrote a column in a newspaper which stated that Pakistan produced great cricketers but lousy human beings.
Apart from dagga-smoking, ball-tampering, secret and underhandpitch preparation and selectorial favouritism, the oldest scandal in Pakistan history – bribery and corruption – made a prominent re-appearance in Ramiz’s thoughts. “I will never play for Pakistan again,” he said, “until certain players are removed from the game forever.”
While he could not afford to name those players publicly, it is a very open secret that he is mainly talking about another former captain, Salim Malik. Malik has opened the domestic season here in Pakistan with three centuries in domestic competitions and reports state that he is playing beautifully. Pakistan could do with his rare ability in the side.
So why isn’t Malik there? The answer is … well, everyone and anyone in this country will tell you what the answer is but only very much off the record. He has been linked or associated with every single betting, match-fixing and bribery scandal or incident that has been suspected since his arrival on the international scene.
Although investigations and committees aplenty have been launched and convened, nothing has been proven. So the Pakistani national selectors are forced to continue mumbling something about Malik not being in very good form!
They have no choice. If they mention anything else then Malik could sue them for libel.
If, as seems the most likely and best option, they state that Malik is not going to be selected until his name is cleared, then Malik would have grounds to seek compensation for a loss of earnings. It is a very, very fragile and messy situation.
So far, at least, the South African players claim not to have been offered any money other than match fees and man-of-the-match awards (Shaun Pollock and Hansie Cronje). We can but applaud the stand taken by Ramiz and hope that his stated desire to “improve the reputation and clear the name of Pakistan cricket” is successful.
The problem in the past when people have tried to do the same thing is that either they have failed to recognise the poison already in the system or, more likely, they have been too scared to do so. Ramiz Raja is likely to receive dozens of abusive and even life-threatening calls and letters but there are those who support him, too. Anyone who says that cricket is just a game and not a matter of life and death onviously hasn’t been to Pakistan!