South African blacks up in arms (26 November 1998)

26 November 1998

South African blacks up in arms

By Tony Becca

The historic first Test between the West Indies and South Africa in South Africa has been greeted with cries of racism following the selection of an almost all-white South African team for the match at Wanderers.

The 12-man squad for the Test match includes only one non-white - left-arm spinner Paul Adams, the feeling around Johannesburg is that seam bowler Makaya Ntini who played against England recently should have been in the team and the blacks, led by Mvuso Mbebe, the head of South Africa's National Sports Council, are angry.

According to Mbebe, in March, Dr. Ali Bacher, managing director of the United Cricket Board of South Africa, said in a statement that the team would include more players of colour but that has not been so. As far as he is concerned things in South Africa have not changed.

"We are really concerned about that, and we will probably take up the matter with Dr. Bacher after the Test match," Mbebe yesterday.

"After Dr. Bacher's comments we expected to see a drastic transformation, but now we are back where we started."

In a response to the concerns of Mbebe and the fans, Dr. Bacher said today that the intention of the UCBSA was to have players of colour on the national side but that "there are some times reasons why the team will be all-white in certain matches".

Peter Pollock, chairman of the selection committee, has said that the team was selected purely on merit.

Meanwhile, manager Clive Lloyd expressed concerns about inadequate preparation and injuries to top pacers Curtly Ambrose and Courtney Walsh.

Both experienced fast bowlers have gone through their last sessions satisfactorily but are not rated as 100 per cent fit, and the team's late arrival in South Africa has forced the players to rush their build up to this opening Test.

"We have incorporated probably three weeks work into eight or ten days, so it will be hard on them," Lloyd said on the CANA SPORT radio programme yesterday.

Still, Lloyd, who led the West Indies - as captain - to the top of world cricket in the 1970s, is hopeful that his players can rise to the challenge in this first ever test match between the two teams on South African soil.

"We know what we can do, we know where we are going wrong, and we have to rectify the faults that we have, but I think we are ready for this test match and I hope that we can come out winners.

"It's not going to be easy, no doubt about that, but it's quite obvious that we knew what to expect when we came here," Lloyd said.

Source :: The Jamaica Gleaner (https://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/)