Cronje talks on captaincy issue

Cape Town - Hansie Cronje is not about to be ditched by the South Africa selectors despite his run of form and sniping at his captaincy abilities in the corridors at Newlands over the last few days.

Cronje was warmly embraced by Dr Ali Bacher, managing director of the United Cricket Board, outside the media conference room in the members stand shortly after South Africa had won their third consecutive home series on Wednesday. They beat England by an innings and 37 runs the fourth innings victory in six Tests this season.

There had been a rumour that Cronje had been thinking of stepping down and that he had been convinced to stay on. This has been strongly denied by team sources and the national selectors.

While Rushdi Magiet and the rest of the selectors are said to tactically support their man with the tour of India now six weeks away, Cronje talked of his disappointment at being unable to score runs, very much in the mould of England's best captain of recent times, Mike Brearly who had a batting average of below 20 during his Test career. Former England bowler Paul Allott has been critical of Cronje's captaincy and his ability to score runs when commenting in an article in a Cape Town daily.

"It (my form) is difficult for me," he admitted. "Last time (against England) when I was scoring runs we did not win the series. Conversely, this time we have won the series and I am not scoring runs.

"It is hard to say what is wrong. Perhaps I am trying too hard . . . But I really want to score runs. I want to be part of the team. It is not nice when guys are scoring big runs and putting together big totals.

"In Durban it was hard to see the guys fighting hard to save the game after the follow on and then go out and save the match and you do not contribute with the bat," he said.

"So there is a part of me which wants to score runs, there is also a nice part which says the captain gets the pat on the back when the team wins the series. "But I must say that it has been a fantastic team effort and all the guys have contributed. The mood in the dressing is also positive.

"There is still the series in India to play, but now 50 percent of the job has been done," he added," Cronje said.