Kwazulu-Natal News Round-up

One of the three changes to the team that lost to Gauteng sees the long-awaited return of Lance Klusener, who had ankle surgery in August, while spinners Anthony Botha and Robbie MacQueen will want to cash in on their recalls.

Out of the team are slow left-armer Craig Tatton, wicketkeeper Bruce Hughes and, in a big blow to the side's hopes of securing their first win of the competition, captain Dale Benkenstein.

Benkenstein has been battling through back problems for a couple of seasons, broke his toe while in Bangladesh with the national team and then broke his finger against Gauteng ‹ the injury that has finally put paid to his chances of leading Natal this weekend.

The axing of Hughes, who replaced the unavailable Keith Forde as a wicketkeeper batting at eight, signals an about-turn by the selectors. With both Errol Stewart and Mark Bruyns having kept for Natal on numerous occasions, the selectors nevertheless chose to play Hughes against Gauteng, and the youngster scored just eight and nought while the four-man Natal attack toiled with little success.

Stewart will take over the gloves, and the captaincy from the injured Benkenstein, with coach Frans Cronje saying yesterday that the change was no reflection on Hughes's performance behind the stumps. ``Bruce did nothing wrong, but having a specialist ¹keeper meant the bowlers just had to work too hard.''

With the balance of the team now paramount in the selectors' minds, Tatton, who took six wickets in the opening four-dayer against Griquas a fortnight ago, but is a rank tailender and a less than agile fielder, finds himself dropped after being lured back to Natal having joined Boland in the off-season.

Cronje admitted that the Zingari spinner's axing had much to do with Natal's batting problems, with the team failing to register decent first-innings totals on pitches that favoured the batsmen. ``The first-innings batting has not been good and the tail is just too long if Tatton plays along with Gary Gilder and Jannie Dreyer.''

At least when Natal take the park on Friday it will be with an attack of Shaun Pollock, Klusener, Gilder, Dreyer, MacQueen and Botha ‹ a mixture of pace and spin that should be at home on any pitch. So, with the make-up of the team seemingly sorted out in the boardroom, what are Natal going to change on the field, because it's what happens there that matters.

Cronje said the first priority was to sort out the batting. ``Forties and 60s may be nice to watch, but batsmen need to get hundreds if you are going to be able to get the match-winning totals like the 500 Gauteng got against us because Nic Pothas scored a top-class century and so did Andrew Hall.

``The loss came about because of one bad session of batting. We were 215 for three against Gauteng on the first day, but then we were bowled out between tea and the close of play, just like against Griquas when we were bowled out practically in a session in our first innings too. This has got to change and the batsmen have to occupy the crease for longer periods.''

Cronje was also yearning for more consistency through the batting line-up, with other batsmen following suit after those before them had made runs, instead of gifting their wickets away. The batting line-up had to lift their game as a unit, Cronje said.

Cronje said the Wanderers pitch had little in it for the bowlers, but he confirmed the fine impression Gauteng paceman David Terbrugge has made in the early stages of the season. ``He bowled very well and Gauteng have certainly got a talented bowler there. I wouldn't be surprised if he was called up against the West Indies some time this season.''

As far as the Natal bowling was concerned, Cronje singled out Pollock as being close to his previous levels of excellence. ``He led our attack really well and bowled brilliantly.''

Cronje said Tatton's first-innings figures of one for 141 in 27 overs were due in the main to a pitch unsuitable to spinners and that when compared to Clive Eksteen's match analysis of one for 113 they did not look so bad. He also pointed out that when Tatton dropped Hall before he had scored in the first innings the chance ``was a very difficult one''.

Natal team: Mark Bruyns, Doug Watson, Errol Stewart (capt), Andrew Hudson, Jonty Rhodes, Shaun Pollock, Lance Klusener, Anthony Botha, Robbie MacQueen, Gary Gilder, Jannie Dreyer. Twelfth man: Bongani Zibane.

Supersport Series Table

                        P     W     L     D   Bat  Bowl   Pts
Border                  3     3     0     0     8    12    50
Eastern Province        3     2     1     0    10    12    42
Gauteng                 3     2     0     1    14     7    41
Free State              3     1     2     0     9     6    25
Western Province        2     1     0     1     5     5    20
Griqualand West         2     0     1     1     4     6    10
Boland                  2     0     2     0     3     5     8
Natal                   2     0     1     1     2     6     8
Northerns               2     0     2     0     0     8     8 

The abandoned match between Boland and Northerns is not included in the above table.

Other news

Bruce Hughes will captain a Natal B team coached and managed by Graham Ford in a UCB Bowl match against Griqualand West in Kimberley from Friday, with one other A side discard, Craig Tatton, also included. Other players in the side who have seen senior action are Wade Wingfield, Jon Kent, Keith Storey and Shaun Adam.

The team includes development players in Ashraf Mall, Desigan Reddy and Zingari member Mehmood Badat.

Natal 'B': Wade Wingfield, Grant Rowley, Jon Kent, Ashraf Mall, Kevin Pieterson, Mehmood Badat, Bruce Hughes (capt), Keith Storey, Desigan Reddy, Shaun Adam, Craig Tatton, Warren Gray.