MIKE FINCH, Johannesburg | Monday 6.30pm.
SOUTH Africa’s newly-appointed cricket selectors will face a selection panel of their own to decide their leader.
After a two-day annual meeting of the United Cricket Board of South Africa (UCBSA) in Johannesburg over the weekend, it was decided that each of the selectors would have the opportunity of presenting their credentials to a four-man committee in the next two to three weeks.
“It’s the only way of being fair to all of them,” UCB managing director, Dr Ali Bacher, said.
So far, only four of the newly-elected six-man selection committee have applied for the job to replace Peter Pollock, who performed the task for five years.
Despite fending off severe criticism for the “lily white” team that played the West Indies earlier in the year, Bacher said that the policy remained the same.
“That policy is that the national team should be a team of colour, but without quotas,” Bacher said. “Whenever the opportunity arises the peripheral players, black and white, should be brought onto the field of play.”
Bacher explained that in the case of a one-day tournament, if South Africa qualify early for the final, any remaining matches should be used to blood the fringe players.
As part of the UCB’s long term plans, a conference will be held sometime before mid-October with the UCB Council, all the contracted national players, the selectors and the chairman, vice-chairman and secretary of the UCB’s Transformation Monitoring Committee.
Bacher also announced that former coach, Bob Woolmer, would not be lost to South African cricket.
Woolmer’s contract ended after the World Cup earlier this year, but in a deal with the UCB, the former Warwickshire coach will still be involved in South African cricket during the summer.
Among his tasks will be the training of players on the periphery of the national side, organising development camps, the fast tracking of players of colour and talent identification among juniors.
“He has agreed to lend us his considerable expertise,” Bacher said. — MWP