Why South Africa's one-day squad failed
As majestic as the Test performances [in England] were, the ensuing belting showed all too clearly how paper-thin South Africa's reserves are
George Binoy
25-Feb-2013
As majestic as the Test performances [in England] were, the ensuing belting showed all too clearly how paper-thin South Africa's reserves are. Five changes were made from the Test squad to the one-day squad and, rather than strengthening it, they shredded it, writes Neil Manthorp in the Mail & Guardian.
Every one among the 15-man Test squad knew his place, knew his team-mates and knew his role. Those who were there as "cover" for certain places accepted and understood that those in the starting XI were happy to perform unglamorous tasks - like McKenzie's stoic batting that helped produce a world-record 50+ opening stand with Smith in eight successive Tests. And everyone knew they deserved to be there, too. They knew that for one very simple reason - because the transformation "target" of seven black players was not reached. That meant it really was a "target" and not a quota. It was reached in the one-day squad, however, and the insipidly creeping doubts about merit, which have haunted so many squads in the past, were quick to return.
But there are even more fundamental and practical reasons for the ODI squad's demise, and they primarily concern the plundering of what is, historically, the country's greatest cricketing resource -- its all-rounders.
George Binoy is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo