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Rob Houwing, Sport24 chief writer
Cape Town - The infusion of South African-born talent into the England cricket team shows no signs of abating.
The English selectors this week named Surrey paceman Stuart Meaker in their squad for a Twenty20 and one-day international tour of India in October.
Meaker, 22, was born in Pietermaritzburg and lived in South Africa until he was 12, when his family moved to England and he completed his education at Cranleigh.
The only uncapped member of the 15-strong, Alastair Cook-led party, Meaker is said to be a skiddy fast bowler with a bowling style reminiscent of Simon Jones: he has reportedly been timed at 154km/h.
There will be no lack of South African accents, to varying degrees, in the travelling group because it includes four other SA-born players in Kevin Pietersen (also Maritzburg), Jonathan Trott (Cape Town) and the Johannesburg-born Craig Kieswetter and Jade Dernbach.
Of course England’s Test captain is another Highveld “birth certificate” in the form of Andrew Strauss.
Meaker’s inclusion is sure to stir anew the prickly debate in England around the increasing presence of South Africans in the national picture.
Leading cricket website ESPNCricinfo, for instance, has a podcast on their site at present titled: “How many South Africans is too many?”
Cape Town - The infusion of South African-born talent into the England cricket team shows no signs of abating.
The English selectors this week named Surrey paceman Stuart Meaker in their squad for a Twenty20 and one-day international tour of India in October.
Meaker, 22, was born in Pietermaritzburg and lived in South Africa until he was 12, when his family moved to England and he completed his education at Cranleigh.
The only uncapped member of the 15-strong, Alastair Cook-led party, Meaker is said to be a skiddy fast bowler with a bowling style reminiscent of Simon Jones: he has reportedly been timed at 154km/h.
There will be no lack of South African accents, to varying degrees, in the travelling group because it includes four other SA-born players in Kevin Pietersen (also Maritzburg), Jonathan Trott (Cape Town) and the Johannesburg-born Craig Kieswetter and Jade Dernbach.
Of course England’s Test captain is another Highveld “birth certificate” in the form of Andrew Strauss.
Meaker’s inclusion is sure to stir anew the prickly debate in England around the increasing presence of South Africans in the national picture.
Leading cricket website ESPNCricinfo, for instance, has a podcast on their site at present titled: “How many South Africans is too many?”
