Ray White attacks South African selectors

Ray White, the former head of the United Cricket Board, has attacked selection convenor Rushdie Magiet, describing him as "weak". The comments came during White's outspoken address to the Pietermaritzburg branch of the SA Institute of International Affairs, in which the United Cricket Board came under fire.

"Under Magiet, the selectors have made a series of blunders that have been difficult to comprehend," White said. "It all began with the first team they chose, for the limited-overs series against Kenya. I nearly had a heart attack when I was told Hansie Cronje had only been appointed until the second Test against England because the selectors wanted to 'put him on trial'.

"That humiliation for Hansie, who, more than anyone else, needed support after suffering the most when we came within inches of winning the World Cup after a magnificent season, has effected him, his form and that of the team as a whole to this day.

"Ten of the national team basically choose themselves, so the selectors' job is really just to pick one guy. But if you got three schoolboys, blindfolded them and they chose the team by sticking a pin into a piece of paper, they'd do a better job than the selectors have," White said.

Having recalled accurate seamer David Terbrugge to the squad, White said he could not believe it when the selectors then left him out of the XI for the first Test against England "on the greenest Wanderers pitch for years", followed up by dropping Paul Adams for the second Test at St George's Park, where the pitch is traditionally excellent for spin bowlers, and then carried their big gun to Durban and got rid of Jonty Rhodes for the third Test.

White, a former Transvaal and Cambridge University batsman, said the recent selection of Makhaya Ntini ahead of Gauteng all-rounder Andrew Hall for the Sharjah limited-overs tournament next month was "an absolute disgrace". "It is beyond comprehension. Andrew is an all-rounder who has turned in a series of stunning performances and has more guts in his little finger than most cricketers have in their whole body, while Makhaya has been bowling OK, but is still very loose."

White said he did not rule out political interference in the selection as Magiet "is a weak convenor of selectors who bows down to outside pressure". Hall miraculously survived an armed bankteller robbery two years ago, in which he was shot twice from point-blank range, while Ntini has been cleared of a much-publicised rape conviction and the irony of the situation was not lost on White. "Here you have a victim of violent crime losing out to a man accused of a violent crime."