South Africa sending A team

The aspiring cricketers of the West Indies can look forward to a stern test later this year when the South Africa A team tours the Caribbean for the first time.

Reports from Johannesburg gave late May and June as the dates,0 but Stephen Camacho, chief executive of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB), said yesterday no agreement had yet been reached with the United Cricket Board of South Africa (UCBSA) on details of the tour.

May and June might prove impractical since our Test series against Pakistan doesnt end until May 23, Camacho said. It may have to be later in the year, but Im still talking to Dr. Ali Bacher [the UCBSA chief executive] about it.

Camacho explained it was a reciprocal tour following the West Indies A teams visit to South Africa in 1997-98 when they were beaten in all three representative Test matches in two of the three One-Day Internationals.

This is part of the A team programme that has now become well-established in international cricket, Camacho said.

One of the first

The West Indies were one of the first to initiate the concept when we toured Zimbabwe twice before they gained Test status and, in the last three years, we have gone to Sri Lanka, South Africa and India and Bangladesh and hosted India last month.

The West Indies also had a home series against England A in 1992.

South Africa have great depth in their cricket at present and, even though they would be expected to give promising non-white players from their development programme much-needed experience on such a tour, their A team is bound to be powerful.

The West Indies selectors used the A series against the Indians last November and December to expose several teenaged graduates of the Nortel youth tournament.

On overseas tours, the concept has been to mix a few experienced players on the verge of Test cricket with emerging youngsters.

Eleven of the 16 on the current tour of New Zealand played for a West Indies A team at some time.

Camacho said the itinerary was likely to be similar to that of the India A tour with two Tests, three One-Day Internationals and two other first-class matches.