Andy Capostagno Cricket
The Wanderers has been sold out for Friday’s opening match of the one-day series between South Africa and the West Indies. What does that tell us? That the South African selectors have chosen a squad with broad appeal? That the West Indies are only likely to provide token resistance? Or is it simply that the South African public likes day/night internationals?
Give yourself 10 out of 10 if you came up with the last answer. Day/night cricket is the perfect product. If that were not the case, why does it attract everyone, from the six-year-olds who play “tip and run” up against the dustbins, through the hot-bodied teenagers wanting to be seen, through the lager louts wanting to be heard, through the collar-and-tie brigade in the hospitality suites and on to the genuine cricket-lovers who would be there if Tiger Lance were still leaving the ball alone outside off-stump.
It goes without saying that the United Cricket Board would prefer it if the crowd were more representative of the country’s demographics, but it could be argued that if all the above social groupings are present, cricket must have a far broader appeal than a few mealy-mouthed politicians seem to believe.
It was genuinely distressing to observe Minister of Sport Steve Tshwete throwing his weight around in the president’s box at Supersport Centurion during last week’s fifth and final Test. But no more distressing than the reaction of National Sports Council president Mluleki George to Monday’s announcement of the 17-man squad to contest the series which begins tonight. Reacting to the inclusion of three players of colour, George said: “The cricket selectors must be praised, but we must be careful about what we say.”
That, as they say, would be a first. George went on with a call to arms to the players of colour. “This is your chance to show us that you have the talent to become national heroes. It is not going to be easy, but you must show the conservatives that playing cricket has nothing to do with colour.”
Am I missing something here, or is that exactly what a few of the more enlightened administrators have been saying all along? And who are these conservatives that George refers to so dismissively? Oh, for a day when the announcement of a sporting squad does not require the press to seek absolution from politicians.
And talking of squads, what about this one? The first thing to be said is that 17 is an unwieldy number. In the past it has been 14, sometimes 15 and even then there have been marginalised players.
If 17 is going to work it will require a different team for every game, which may be what the selectors are looking for in a World Cup year, but goes directly against the sound cricketing logic of building a winning team. Equally the announcement of 30 names for the preliminary World Cup squad is likely to cause more problems than it solves.
Having said all of that, both squads are as full of good cricketers as a pomegranate is of pips and the players left behind by the selectors when the World Cup squad is finally trimmed to 15 on Easter Saturday could form a team which would comfortably reach the semi- finals, and maybe even win the tournament.
What sets South Africa’s one-day cricket apart at the moment is the plethora of all-rounders available to the selectors. In the Test side Jacques Kallis, Hansie Cronje, Shaun Pollock, Lance Klusener and Mark Boucher are genuine all-rounders. If fielding comes into the equation (as it should in one-day cricket) Jonty Rhodes and Herschelle Gibbs can be added to that list.
In the squad for the one-day series there are more still: Nicky Boje and Andrew Hall (surely the most improved cricketer in the country) are proper all-rounders, Pat Symcox and Steve Elworthy are bowlers who bat very well indeed and Mike Rindel and Dale Benkenstein are batsmen who can both turn their arms over in a crisis.
It is an embarrassment of riches that must leave a few of the squad feeling a little inadequate. It is to be hoped that Victor Mpitsang and Henry Williams do not shrivel up in such company. Mpitsang is Free State’s 19-year-old fast-medium bowler who in other countries at other times would not have been elevated so far, so quickly.
He has a lot of talent and in a fielding side as good as this South African one, his bad balls will not necessarily go to the boundary. But uncompromising hitters such as Philo Wallace and Brian Lara will enjoy his fullish length and the opportunity to hit straight back over the bowler’s head. When his time comes, probably around the fifth match, the good men of the United Cricket Board will be holding their collective breath.
The one man who does not really fit into the scheme of things is Henry Williams. The Boland medium pacer is 31 years old and his selection smacks of belated reward and a certain amount of tokenism.
Williams gets the new ball for Boland and is rarely collared at provincial level. But he is unlikely to get the new ball for South Africa and as a result he could be something of a liability if and when he plays.
But these are small criticisms. The bulk of the team will be unchanged from match to match and that is what counts. With a 5-0 whitewash on the mantelpiece, Hansie Cronje’s men must currently believe that they can walk through walls, especially inasmuch as their ability to play Test cricket has been questioned, but their ability in the one- day arena has been shouted from the rooftops.
It is often said that anyone can win a one-day game, but if the West Indies win two out of seven against this South African team they will have done incredibly well.
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