A SECOND LOOK
John Young
If South Africa’s cricket selection convener Rushdi Magiet really is “cocking things up as Peter Robinson argues (“Convener of selectors should be dropped”, October 12), then of course he should be fired.
Robinson finds Magiet inept, incoherent and short of public-relations skills and concludes that Magiet is “the gravest threat imaginable to South Africa’s avowed ambitions of becoming the best cricket team in the world.” The trouble with Robinson’s argument is that it leaves out the important stuff.
Cricket selection’s bottom line has three parts: putting the correct team on the field (hiring the right people), the team’s win-loss ratio (profit margins) and bringing on young talent (human-resource development). Judged by these criteria Magiet and his panel have done spectacularly well and the board of directors (the United Cricket Board) should be handing out bonus cheques.
Obviously it would be better if the thoughts of the selection panel were seamlessly communicated to the media but there are pitfalls. Only last year Magiet got stick from the media for the so-called “rotation policy” against New Zealand and Sri Lanka. Injuries and pitch conditions precluded players at various times and so columnists judged the system a flop. The bottom line that time was 10 wins out of 11.
Robinson characterises Magiet’s tenure as selection convener as a “catalogue of ineptitude”. Profit margins since September 1999 tell another story: Test series: played eight, won seven, drawn one, lost none. Test matches: played 25, won 14, drawn eight, lost three (including Hansie Cronje’s leather-jacket Test against England.)
If South Africa win the triangular final on Friday, they will have won 44 one-day matches to 19 losses and one tie, with 10 out of 14 possible limited over trophies. Surely the selectors must get some credit for this record.
Eight of the nine players to earn their first Test caps on Magiet’s watch have performed well: Boeta Dippenaar, Nantie Hayward, Nicky Boje, Neil McKenzie, Mfuneko Ngam, Justin Kemp, Andre Nel and Claude Henderson. Pieter Strydom is the odd man out but his selection was reward for outstanding form in domestic cricket. When Dave Callaghan was called up to replace Cronje he said he “wanted to take my hat off to Rushdi Magiet”. Magiet had promised to pick form players and he was true to his word.
One of the first initiatives of Magiet’s term of office was a coaching camp for black players in 1999. Among the players were Ngam, Charl Langeveld and Justin Ontong.
Another of the Magiet panel’s first actions caused a stink at the time but now seems forgotten. Cronje was put on probation. The resulting media storm made it clear that Magiet had gone too far. Cronje was indispensable to South African cricket, a priceless and untouchable asset.
Magiet said: “Our batting has proved our Achilles heel. We must show more consistency. That would take us to the top in Test cricket.”
With a settled top six, Dippenaar in reserve and away wins in India and the West Indies under the belt, South Africa is well placed to beat Australia and get to the top.
Magiet has been a part of getting South Africa to that position that’s the bottom line.