Former South African wicketkeeper Mark Boucher may well be back in the national cricket squad when it is announced next Tuesday, but opening batsman Herschelle Gibbs might not. That was the opinion of national coach Ray Jennings when the team returned from India on Friday.
”I don’t really know why he [Boucher] was taken out of the equation, but I think he’s paid his dues, or whatever the case may be, and I think he will definitely be back in contention for the national team,” said Jennings.
”If we want to beat England, we’ve got to come out blazing with our best players.”
Jennings said there was a definite attitude of ”I want to play” in the team, and this would make it hard for players like Gibbs and Nicky Boje, who did not go to India, to get back into the team.
”There are no guarantees,” he said. ”We have found other opening batsmen, for instance, so Gibbs won’t necessarily just walk back into the team. And do we go on past performance or on current form?”
Jennings said he felt that Gibbs and Boje should also resolve their problems with the Indian police, so that they would be able to travel to India when South Africa toured there the next time.
Captain Graeme Smith said he was pleased with the way the team had performed in India, even though they had not achieved the results they wanted. ”We played a lot better cricket, and we extended ourselves,” he said.
”We took a younger side, and we performed a lot better than people had expected.
”I think we all gained something from the experience, especially the younger players — the heat, the crowds, the intensity. I don’t think you can get any more intense than in Calcutta when you’re trying to get the best out of a Test match.”
Jennings acknowledged that the lack of a front-line spinner had been a serious problem in India.
”You don’t know until you get there how much the ball spins,” he said. ”Our spinners may be called spinners in South Africa — in India people would laugh at that. They will have to work on their skills and extend their attention to detail.
”We need to look at juniors — guys between 17 and 19, and start creating some sort of sub-continent academy, ” he said.
United Cricket Board Managing Director Gerald Majola said negotiations were under way with India and Pakistan to set up an exchange training programme, and this would help with the development of spin bowlers who would be able to use the conditions in the sub-continent to their advantage. – Sapa