Tshwete keeps up selection pressure (1 January 1999)

1 January 1999

Tshwete keeps up selection pressure

By Richard Bright in Cape Town

SOUTH AFRICA'S sports minister Steve Tshwete has repeated his criticism of the national selectors, that they were picking too few non-white players, before the fourth Test against the West Indies, which starts in Cape Town tomorrow.

South Africa announced an unchanged team this week after their nine-wicket victory in the third Test in Durban on Tuesday, which gave them an unassailable 3-0 lead in the five-Test series, but Tshwete said: "The series was already in the bag - this was a good opportunity to let a talented youngster have a chance to play."

He claimed that the repeated exclusion of non-white players from the national side was denying them the chance to improve skills and gain experience.

Ali Bacher, managing director of the United Cricket Board, said he was disappointed by Tshwete's comments and planned to raise the issue with the minister this week. "The politicians must have confidence in us," he said.

For Bacher and his fellow cricket administrators, the recent criticism came as a surprise. Cricket had been regarded as a model sport because of commitment to black development. Tshwete chaired the talks which led to the formation of the United Cricket Board in 1991.

A picture of Tshwete shedding tears of joy as he hugged batsman Peter Kirsten after an all-white South Africa team had beaten champions Australia in their first World Cup match in Sydney in 1992 epitomised cricket's status as a unifying force.

In the past year, four non-white cricketers have represented South Africa, including fast bowler Makhaya Ntini, the first black African to play Test cricket. Herschelle Gibbs and Paul Adams, both Cape Coloured players, are in the current side, and Roger Telemachus, another Cape Coloured player, has played in one-day internationals.

National age-group teams have become racially mixed, with an average of about 40 per cent black players. Thami Tsolekile, a black African from Langa township near Cape Town, will captain South Africa Under-19 on a tour to Pakistan at the end of January.

The West Indies' prospects look bleak at Newlands, as they could enter the fourth Test without their two leading seam bowlers. Courtney Walsh has been ruled out with a damaged hamstring and Curtly Ambrose has fluid on his left knee.

Brian Lara, their captain, said: "We are a competitive unit. We are not down and out. South Africa outplayed us in all three Test matches, but we have to pick ourselves up and play good cricket."

Source :: Electronic Telegraph (https://www.telegraph.co.uk)