Protect Cronje appeal from former Test fast bowler De Villiers

Port Elizabeth - Fanie de Villiers, everybody' favourite former player, has come out in support of his one-time national captain Hansie Cronje suggesting too much pressure is being exerted on the South African skipper. Now a TV commentator for the cable sports network SuperSport De Villiers, also known as Vinnige Fanie yesterday said Cronje could decide to quit the game if he was placed under further intolerable pressure which would be a disaster for South Africa.

I have seen the signs as his form as a batsman takes a battering and feel that he should be given every opportunity to bat lower in the order to rediscover that magic we know he has, De Villiers said shortly after the South African Teas squad for the tour of India was announced at St George' Park. There are too many people out there who are placing pressure on him and it is going to reach a stage where he will ask himself if he needs it in his life, said the former Test fast bowler who, when Cronje was placed in charge for the first time, inspired the miracle for success in the Sydney New Year Test of 1994.

He is far too good a player to lose as frankly we have no one who can do the job as well, said De Villiers. South Africa are still in need of him and I feel the selectors are not helping ease the problem of his batting form. He should be moving further down the order, say to six, or even seven, and get his form back that way. Perhaps the tour of India is where he could move down the order and also in Sri Lanka later in the year, said De Villiers. South Africa need him to be playing and playing without all the pressure he has been going through.

If we lose him I can see us heading for trouble and we cannot afford that at this particular stage of the year with the India tour along with matches in Sharjah as well as Australia to be played Hansie is a good batsman and we all know how well he can bat. If he is told, ?okay go out there and relax and enjoy yourself? I feel his form will return, said De Villiers, who also warned that if a solution was not found Cronje would quit. He talks a lot about the need to contribute and he feels he is letting the team down by his failure not to score runs. It is unnecessary pressure.

Cronje' position is seen as being similar to that of Mark Taylor, the Australian whose loss of form in the late 1990s saw him eventually lose the one-day captaincy to Steve Waugh yet retain the Test leadership. There were no surprises in the selection of the Test party for the two Tests in India with Rushdi Magiet' panel resisting bringing Makhaya Ntini into the squad, although he may get a call up for the limited-overs international slogs following the Test in Bangalore early next month. The decision to recall Clive Eksteen, the Gauteng captain, again shows where South Africa' bowling weakness lies. Several months ago Mike Procter admitted there was much concern among the selectors about the lack of spinners in the country. Reintroducing a 33-year-old whose last Test was against England at the Wanderers four years ago when he failed to get rid of Mike Atherton during that epic innings, indicates the selectors are fairly desperate.

He' had a fair season and as a left-arm orthodox Hugh Tayfield type floater, he is as steady as they come against batsmen who are anchored to the crease. Yet, as he admitted, he has come on since his duel at the Wanderers with Atherton four summers ago with the aid of Rodney Ontong who was no slouch as a spinner, yet in South Africa conditions the former Glamorgan all-rounder did not win too many matches for Northerns. Perhaps four years on Eksteen with six Tests to his credit may find India a little kinder to him than on his first visit. He was hammered out of the attack at Gwalior on the historic visit of November 1991 with memories of being hit for two big sixes in a twoover spell which cost 18 runs was quite enough for Clive Rice. No doubt he will get more opportunity in Mumbai and Bangalore, venues of the two Tests. Yet, listening to Magiet' explanation, Eksteen may be only going as cover for Paul Adams.

If there are any problems with Paul Adams fitness we are confident he can do the job for us, said the convener of selectors admitting his selection was a short-term solution. As expected Daryll Cullinan is back, Boeta Dippenaar is in the side instead of Jonty Rhodes along with Gary Kirsten and Allan Donald. It seems though the selectors, in sending back four and replacing them with five for the slogs, remembering the tour to Sharjah afterwards, are preparing for Dale Benkenstein, Neil McKenzie, Henry Williams and possibly Steve Elworthy and either Derek Crookes or Nicky Boje included in a 15-man squad to be named on Saturday night after the triangular series final at the Wanderers.

What is interesting is that Free State' teen-age leg-spinner Andre Abrahams is going along to learn a little about Asian sub-continent conditions. The squad is scheduled to arrive in India on February 16 and play the first Test in Mumbai from February 24-28.

The squad: Herschelle Gibbs, Gary Kirsten, Jacques Kallis, Daryll Cullinan, Hansie Cronje (capt), Pieter Strydom, Lance Klusener, Shaun Pollock, Mark Boucher, Paul Adams, Allan Donald, Boeta Dippenaar, Clive Eksteen, Mornantau Hayward.