JONTY Rhodes will return to the Natal cricket team when they host
Boland in a SuperSport Series game at Kingsmead from Thursday to
Sunday, while batsman Ahmed Amla will make his A Section debut.
These are the only changes to the Natal squad announced yesterday
after the draw with North-West at the weekend. Spinners Goolam
Bodi and Kevin Pieterson, 12th man in Potchefstroom, are the two
players to make way. Rhodes pulled a thigh muscle during the
limited-overs internationals in Kenya recently, but there was no
major damage and the Dolphins' biggest drawcard will be back in
action at Kingsmead on Thursday after missing just one game.
Although always in control, Natal could not secure a win against
newly-promoted North-West on the flattest of pitches in
Potchefstroom, despite scoring 504 for three and 254 for two in
their two innings, both of which were declared closed.
"I think North-West were very happy to finish with a draw," was
Natal coach Phil Russell's verdict. "The groundsman did a great
job. They wanted to get a draw and the pitch was very conducive
to that," Russell, himself a former groundsman of international
repute, said yesterday.
"We scored at more than four an over throughout, while they were
battling to get to three an over. We took 13 wickets while losing
only five," Russell said, adding that he did not view the draw as
a failure in any way as he felt Natal had "bowled brilliantly"
but were undone by an unfair pitch. Bodi was the one
disappointment from the weekend, conceding 91 runs in his 14
overs in the match, but Russell was adamant the left-arm spinner
from Gauteng would remain part of the Natal set-up despite being
dropped for this week's match.
"I see great potential there, but one must remember he's still
only 20 and one can't expect him to bowl like Shane Warne or
Muttiah Muralitharan. He's just starting to learn his trade,"
Russell said in defence of the bowler whose long-hops and full
tosses were despatched all over the park. Amla, who made a huge
impression over in Ireland while on tour there with the SA
Academy team earlier this year, comes into the side after scoring
a top-class half-century for Natal B against Gauteng B at the
weekend.
The Natal second-stringers beat their Gauteng counterparts in
their three-day UCB Bowl fixture but lost their limited-overs
contest. Keith Storey, with a five-wicket haul in the Gauteng
second innings, Kyle Bender (60), Mark Sanders (88) and Gary
Gilder, who bowled well but without much luck, were the other
Natal B players to single out from the weekend in Johannesburg.
Natal squad: Ahmed Amla, Eldine Baptiste, Dale Benkenstein
(capt), Mark Bruyns, Andrew Hudson, Lance Klusener, Robbie
Macqueen, Shaun Pollock, Jonty Rhodes, Errol Stewart, Ross
Veenstra, Doug Watson.