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South Africa keep faith in experience for England
By Peter Deeley
19 Apr 1994
South Africa have shown faith in the players who led the country
to two drawn winter series against Australia for their historic
three-Test tour of England which starts in June. After the 16-man
party had been announced in Johannesburg yesterday for the
country's first visit to England in 29 years, Peter Pollock the
convenor of selectors, explaining why there had been little room
for experimentation, commented: ``When you take on England on
their own ground there's no substitute for experience.'' Kepler
Wessels, 36, will lead the side in what may be his finale in the
game. His vice-captain, Hansie Cronje, 24, is widely expected to
take over the captaincy after the tour, in time for the home
series against New Zealand at the end of the year. The absence of
Jimmy Cook will cause some surprise. Cook, 40, established a big
reputation as an opening bat during his three seasons with Somerset and was twice the country's leading run-scorer. But he failed
to capitalise on his two Test opportunities for South Africa,
scoring only 76 runs in four innings. Pollock said Cook had been
considered for the party but the selectors had chosen to give
Daryll Cullinan another chance. There is also another opening bat
in the party in Gerhardus Leibeberg, who will be the second
wicket- keeper. When Cullinan, 27, went to Australia he was widely regarded as the most talented young South African batsman,
with a wide repertoire of shots. But there he was destroyed by
Shane Warne and as much for his own peace of mind as anything,
the selectors chose to leave him out of the side - and out of
Warne's sights - for the return series. Pollock said: ``We believe Cullinan will benefit from batting in English conditions.
He is one of the most complete batsmen on either side of the
wicket. We felt for psychological reasons he should be left out
of the Australia series at home but now we feel that he has
recovered sufficiently from those traumas to go to England.'' The
selectors, acknow- ledging slow bowling to be the weakest part of
their bowling armoury, have chosen two men well into their 30s and incidentally both well over 6ft - in Tim Shaw, a left-arm
spinner, and Pat Symcox, whose off-breaks make a surprise return
to the international field. Symcox took four wickets in Sydney
in South Africa's five-run win there but after being harshly
dealt with in his only one-day appearance against Australia at
home could hardly have expected another chance. Shaw played in
two one-day internationals but has not made the Test team yet.
Warwickshire's Allan Donald leads the five-man pace attack which
includes one new name, 21-year-old Aubrey Martyn, a fast-medium
left-armer from Western Province. Brett Schultz, another leftarmer who made such an impact in his first Test series in Sri
Lanka, has been left out because of continuing knee troubles.
S AFRICAN TOUR PARTY: *K C Wessels, W J Cronje, A C Hudson, G
Kirsten, P N Kirsten, J N Rhodes, D J Cullinan, B M McMillan, T G
Shaw, P L Symcox, A A Donald, P S de Villiers, C R Matthews, A
Martyn, D J Richardson, G F J Liebenberg. Team manager: M J
Procter. Tour manager: F Bing.
(Thanks : The Daily Telegraph)
Contributed by Vicky (VIGNESWA@*umass.edu)
Source: The Electronic Telegraph
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Date-stamped : 25 Feb1998 - 19:13