da stake casino： Centurion: One of the national selectors, Clive Rice, paid whatappeared to be a “courtesy call” at SuperSport Park yesterday andgot an eyeful of why South Africa A have become the professional,unbeatable side they are
Trevor Chesterfield14-Nov-1999Centurion: One of the national selectors, Clive Rice, paid whatappeared to be a “courtesy call” at SuperSport Park yesterday andgot an eyeful of why South Africa A have become the professional,unbeatable side they are.He then left his calling card in the dressing room and gave themanagement team an insight into the sort of muddled thinking thenational selectors are applying to what is, in essence, a prestigeside by announcing three changes to the team which thrashed Sri LankaA by an innings and 116 runs with more than a day in hand.Rice did not stick around long enough to see Dale Benkensteinsside wipe the floor with their Sri Lanka A opponents but the fall outfrom his announcement is going to take some time before ruffledfeathers are smoothed over.Nothing has been officially released but from all accounts Nic Pothas,Neil McKenzie and David Terbrugge have been relieved of their placeswhich have been handed over to Justin Kemp, Wendell Bossenger and ArnoJacobs.Whispers in the A Team corridors suggest the two Gauteng and Northernsplayers have been released to strengthen the combinedNortherns/Gauteng XI to play the England in the run up to the Test aweek later.While no one can argue with Kemp s selection, those of Jacobs(North-West) and Bossenger (Griqualand West) is stretching credibilitya bit far as neither player are yet worthy of A Team status: not whileCarl Bradfield and Ian Mitchell are around. Bossenger was lastseason s leading wicketkeeper in terms of dismissals, but it doesnot make him the best.But Rice, a mean enough fast bowler in his day to have Kerry Packerrushing for his signature in the rebel era, no doubt had enough notesfrom Rushdie Majiet and the other selectors to pass on to Benkensteinand the SA A team management about the healthy state of SouthAfrica s fast bowling.The changes suggest that the national selectors are prescribing towhoever is in entrusted with the selection of the Northerns/Gauteng XIfor the game starting on Thursday.At least the best attendance of the season in Centurion yesterdayMornantau Hayward, now sporting a blond thatch from an overdose ofhighlights instead of the ginger we all knew, the tall athletic VictorMpitsang and Terbrugge seriously manhandled the visiting Sri Lanka Abatsmen with the sort of vigorous pace and aggression which would givemost Test teams an unpleasant taste of fire and brimstone.While on Friday it was Hayward who collected the honours with his fivewickets, yesterday it was the combined pace and swing of Terbrugge andMpitsang who wrecked the tourists a second time in two days SouthAfrica A needing only 132.4 overs, four sessions and 51 minutes todestroy a side whose batsmen were outclassed and undone by the pace ofthe pitch and the bounce the three fast bowlers manufactured out ofthe conditions.Benkenstein rotated them well, too, in the sort of enervating heatwhich would tire most fast bowlers for long spells, but making sure healways had one of his strike bowlers in action. Mpitsang was the moreimpressive of the three before lunch and again when brought backshortly before tea. His three for 42 was typical of the economy of hisbowling, generating pace throughout his five spells yet being punishedfor the loose ball.Although Sajith Fernando and the stand-in captain Thilan Samaraweeradid what they could to rescue a lost cause, both at least showed therewas batting spine in a side which has an average age of 22.Yet their new manager, Brendon Kuruppu, the former Sri Lankawicketkeeper and now a member of the national selectors, would be thefirst admit the first of two four-day games against South Africa A waslost by tea on the first day.Winning the toss, bowlers whose direction was both sides of thewicket, sloppy fielding and lack of a gameplan placed the side underpressure. Dropping Mark Bruyns twice did not help their cause eitherand as the manager no doubt pointed out there is a lot of work to doif they hope to make a contest of the game at Alexandra Oval inPietermaritzburg starting on Thursday.