Henry and Smith hit back at Woolmer's comments

Omar Henry, head of the South African selection committee, has hit back at Bob Woolmer's comments that South African cricket is in a mess, while Graeme Smith insisted that he didn't receive any sort of contact from Woolmer regarding his acceptance of the captaincy.

Henry said: "I don't know in which country Bob Woolmer finds himself right now. Perhaps he must have his eyes tested." Henry's comments were in reaction to Woolmer, the former national coach, who speaking at a benefit dinner for Dale Benkenstein in Pietermaritzburg, said he was deeply hurt by the present state of affairs in South African cricket, before going on to point a finger at Smith, who had questioned Klusener's team ethic in a breakfast interview.

"I can't really believe that Lance has not been selected to tour England," said Woolmer. "It was because of him that we got to the semi-finals of the 1999 World Cup in the first place. That man wins games for South Africa and then someone had the temerity to attack him at a breakfast."

Smith is the youngest man ever to lead the national side, and Woolmer was incensed by his lack of respect for a man who has been a mainstay of the team for over half a decade. "Graeme Smith has not been playing long enough and after five Tests has no right to criticise someone whose track record for South Africa is so good," he said.

He added that he had cautioned Smith against accepting the captaincy when it was offered to him in the wake of Shaun Pollock's sacking. "I pleaded with him not to take the captaincy but to rather wait until he was 26, more experienced and more settled in the side so he could handle all the pressures."

However, Smith has since insisted that he in fact never received a call from Woolmer to that effect: "Bob's entitled to his opinion on whether I should be the captain or not," he said. "I don't begrudge him that. But I just don't remember him phoning me and suggesting that I should wait until I was 26 before taking over as captain." He added, "I know I'm only 22, but my memory's in pretty good working order."

Woolmer also hinted at provincialism in South African cricket when he said, "Lance, I must tell you that if you live in Cape Town you have more chance of playing for South Africa, and you think I'm joking." Henry, Eric Simons, the national coach, and Smith are all from Cape Town.

As South Africa prepare for what is sure to be a closely contested series in England, Woolmer - who played for Kent and England - said he considered himself a South African, though he felt dismayed at the about-turn in the nation's cricketing fortunes. "I feel more like a masochist at the moment because the state of our sport really hurts me," he said. "I wish I knew what was going on in our cricket because at the moment it is a complete mess."