Andy Capostagno : Cricket
It must be something in the genes. National team selectors of any sporting code from any country are usually men (or women) of experience and intelligence with an understanding of the pressures and complexities of their particular game, individuals who talk genuine horse sense on the golf course or in the pub.
And yet, put them in a room together and a peculiar metamorphosis occurs as they feel compelled, like a gang of footloose lemmings, to close the door on logic and head straight for the nearest cliff.
This week at Centurion, after Hansie Cronje’s side had summoned every last ounce of sweat and pizazz to complete a wonderful second Test win over Sri Lanka, came another example of this illogicallity.
Shaun Pollock had limped off early in the Sri Lankan first innings with a groin strain and Allan Donald, while charging in heroically to take his 200th test wicket and pull South Africa back into the game, was nursing an injured ankle.
The situation cried out for them to be relieved of duty in the one-day international triangular series beginning Friday at Kingsmead and give them a good rest before the start of the 14-week, five Test tour of England. But that would have been logical. So, I suppose it should have been no surprise to find both names on the list of 15 players.
The only man to escape was Makhaya Ntini, who cramped up and later strained his side while warming up. This injury must be serious because there was a feeling that ifNtini – who would have actually benefited from the experience – could have shuffled in and bowled underarm donkey drops, he might still have cracked the nod.
Peter Pollock, the convenor of selectors, did admit that Donald and Shaun Pollock would play a limited part in the series, but that is hardly the point. They should have been left out altogether.
Strong? Maybe, but consider these elements. Shaun Pollock has played all 11 tests since October and Donald has played nine. By the end of the England tour they will have played 16 and 14 tests respectively (assuming they stay fit) in the space of 12 months.
That in itself is a sad indictment on the over-egging attitude of those who arrange the itineraries, but it also constitutes a workload which Pollock Snr, in his prime, might have spent two years or more running up. But, add to that the plethora of one-day games they have already played this season, the odd bowl in the nets and the constant travelling, and you have two physically and mentally tired men.
It is also important to remember, as if anyone needed reminding, that Donald and Shaun Pollock are the two key elements of the team. Against Sri Lanka they looked jaded for much of the time but without them South Africa are pretty toothless.
Certainly, without their two strike bowlers South Africa will struggle to beat England whose batsmen thrive on a nutritious diet of pie-throwers in the county championship. So why risk either of them aggravating their injuries?
The two match-winners, who must be aching for a chance to put the feet up by the pool or skip town and go fishing, must now traipse around the country, whether or not they play, and then enjoy a monumental 10-day break before boarding the plane for England. It defies logic, but there must be some order of priorities at the offices of the United Cricket Board which deems this one-day series more important than the England tour.
Call me old-fashioned, but I was always under the illusion that it was the other way round.
Fortunately, Pollock and his cohorts provided some amusement when he shot down a presumptuous English reporter who suggested that the inclusion of Mike Rindel (35) and Steve Elworthy (33) flew in the face of South Africa’s youth policy.
“We have never said we had a youth policy,” said Pollock. “It is a glib term which has come from one or two of the media. We just want to pick the best form team.”
It was not quite what Bob Woolmer, the coach, had been saying moments earlier in a previous press conference also attended by Pollock, but let that pass.
The selectors are undoubtedly keen to use the one-day series as a guide to next year’s World Cup, but the recall of Rindel three years after his last one-day outing has come at the expense of younger guns like Dale Benkenstein, Nic “the Greek” Pothas or even Ashwell Prince.
Elworthy deserves his “cap” simply for years of being so close, but is he a better bet than, say, Mornantau Hayward or Gary Gilder?
Elworthy’s pedigree as a player who might thrive in English conditions looks seriously short after his year at Lancashire when he was left out of both domestic one-day finals.
Actually, that sounds like the perfect selectorial logic to take him to England in May …