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The perils of team selection

Rob Houwing’s ‘Tops on the Telly’ column

Mpumelelo Mbangwa, anchor of SuperSport 2’s Inside Edge cricket chat show, tried something ambitious this week … to get his trio of guest pundits to come up with South Africa’s World Cup 2011 squad in 20-something minutes.

It was never going to be easy, and not just because the Proteas’ one-day international personnel look infinitely hazier on several fronts right now than do their candidates for Test duty.

I recall from a past life as newspaper cricket writer, you see, that selection meetings – yes, “official” ones – can take several hours, and that sometimes just for a provincial line-up for a once-off match!

I used to ring a certain convenor of a then-Currie Cup team’s selectors by arrangement, immediately after they’d finally made their pick, and occasionally this would be close to midnight.

Mind you (no names, no pack-drill) this particular combo of wise men were not averse to a little heady refreshment while they deliberated and sometimes, amidst shuffling of papers and fumbling of pen from the other end of the landline, I would do very well to receive the chosen side either lucidly named or in intended batting order.

So for “Pommie” to task Daryll Cullinan, Robin Jackman and HD Ackerman – astute observers and luminary ex-players, all – with compiling the Proteas’ ideal troops for the Subcontinent challenge next year, all in the space of half and hour and including ad breaks and other items, was daring at the very least.

Sport24 colleague David Brooke also saw the Tuesday staple programme and he noted to me next day that perhaps Mbangwa had (deliberately, maybe?) caught his guests off-guard, because they didn’t appear to have any potentially useful, expanded lists of candidates in front of them.

So there was the odd “oops, yes, forgot about him” while they deliberated and haggled, and it certainly gave viewers an idea of how hazardous the job can be for those brave enough to take it on in real-deal capacities.

Whilst a conclusive “15” proved elusive, given the challenging time constraint, some pertinent points were made before the credits all too quickly rolled.

Ackerman, increasingly at ease as a TV critic, suggested consideration be given to taking veteran Mark Boucher (presently marginalised from the ODI set-up) along as part of the squad anyway, even if the upfront intention is still to ‘keep with AB de Villiers.

I am not wholly convinced myself yet that there are enough better, cooler “finishers” with the blade available to South Africa, so if room can be made … why not?

Cullinan made a case for the parsimonious Paul Harris, who sports only three ODI caps to go with his 32 in Tests, to beef the spin arsenal for the likely favourable conditions for that trade, although the panel acknowledged that his cumbersome fielding was a drawback.

“Jackers” meanwhile, seemed to question whether there was enough clear-thinking on the part of the selectors, considering that Ryan McLaren played in five successive winning ODI sides in the Caribbean clean-sweep earlier this year, only to be deemed surplus to requirements for the squad now tackling Zimbabwe.

It was reasonably engrossing viewing, Pommie curve-ball or not …

Rob’s awesome foursome:

1. South Africa v Zimbabwe, Standard Bank 1st cricket ODI
Bloemfontein, Friday 14:30, SS2, CSN

You are perfectly entitled to ask, considering last week’s CSA announcement that the series would also be carried live by SABC3, whether that will indeed be the case: there was some of the dreaded “delayed live” phenomenon from the national broadcaster, after all, during the Pro20 phase of the Zim visit. And now the plot thickens – according to the official SABC3 listings, there will be a live crossing to the ODI at 14:00. But when the game actually starts, half an hour later, they have such staples as Hannah Montana, Oprah and Days of Our Lives advertised! Then there’s a “News at 7” -- curiously in an 18:30 slot -- before finally there is intended to be some cricket at 19:00. SuperSport’s coverage seems a bit more clear-cut, I have to say.

2. Sharks v Blue Bulls, Absa Currie Cup rugby semi-final
Durban, Saturday 14:30, M-Net, SS1 & HD

This especially tantalising game could be close … very close. I have said before that the Bulls are my tip now to go all the way to glory, so you know where my money lies. But do the Sharks have a fighting chance? You bet they do. I really don’t believe we should read too much into the comprehensive Newlands defeat against WP: it is difficult to get truly fired-up when your table-topping status is already assured. But the Bulls have boxed clever by keeping big Danie Rossouw at No 8 and having fit-again Pierre Spies primed for an impact role off the bench -- Rossouw is certainly the decent match to Willem Alberts in the “bruiser” department among the loosies! Bulls by two or three points …

3. Western Province v Cheetahs, Absa Currie Cup rugby semi-final
Cape Town, Saturday 17:00, M-Net, SS1 & HD

In some ways, the Cheetahs winning at Newlands a few weeks ago in the round-robin phase of the competition may not have been the best thing to happen to them: now pundits may be asking “can lightning strike twice?” The answer, many will venture, is probably not. Province will be warier this time of falling behind early on the scoreboard, as they did in the late August clash. Still, the Free Staters tend to enter knockout phases of the Currie Cup with a relaxed sort of relish – they are often branded underdogs and duly go and humble the big ‘un. But I think it won’t happen here, before those loud and silverware-starved Cape Town fans.

4. Everton v Liverpool, English Premiership soccer
Liverpool, Sunday 14:30, SS3 & Maximo

There are several matches in the Premiership this weekend which could be considered “better” in terms of table positions of the combatants. Yet this is still the tastiest fixture, given the adversity which serves as a backdrop for both Merseyside clubs in the illustrious derby. These are early days in the 2010/11 campaign, it is true, but the sides squaring up on Sunday afternoon find themselves in unusual dwang and even the subject of “relegation” chortles from supporters of other clubs. Tackles will fly in, and then some. Who’ll stop the rot first? Everton come off a win, which helps, but I have a hunch that the Reds will raid Goodison successfully, fuelled by the strong quest to atone for losing to Blackpool at Anfield. That was truly their “JM Coetzee” … disgrace. Geddit?
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