/ 10 May 1999

RHODES BACK IN ACTION

JONTY Rhodes is due to help South Africa wade through English county sides in preparation for the upcoming World Cup. REturning from a slight strain, Rhodes helped SA roll over Kent, and captain Hansie Cronje doesn’t see Middlesex as too much of a threat. The SA skipper does think it will be tougher than the Kent match, but observers are looking for 300 runs from the tourists with Rhodes back in an in-form batting lineup. “There’s always room for improvement,” said Cronje after Sunday’s emphatic 170-run win in Canterbury. But after a performance which even he reckoned had been thoroughly professional, Cronje was pretty vague about which areas had to be improved on. One might be paceman Alan Donald, coming back from a layoff of over a month, but Cronje feels this will sort itself out.