Cricket
Tahir to play for Proteas?
2008-09-25 21:45
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Christo Buchner
Johannesburg - A great cricket season awaits Imran Tahir.
It is no secret that Mickey Arthur, coach of the South African team, is eager to involve the 29-year-old Titans leg spinner in the national set-up.
It sounds increasingly likely that Tahir will join Graeme Smith's (captain) squad as soon as he qualifies to play for South Africa.
Tahir will be able to play for South Africa only from next year, but is already available as a local player for the Titans.
“This is outstanding news for us," said Elise Lombard, CEO of the Titans.
The reason Tahir can't play for South Africa before next year is that four years have to elapse between his last match for Pakistan's A team and his first match for his new country.
The Titans are full of praise for Tahir. Apparently only a few batsmen are able to read his googly.
He has the ability to place the ball, which as a leg spinner he delivers at high speed, on the proverbial tickey.
Tahir, who is married to a South African, is still playing for his English county, Hampshire, but will be in South Africa next week for the Titans' first SuperSport match against the Dolphins in Durban.
He started playing for the Titans towards the end of the season before last and made a big impact last season. He and all-rounder Roelof van der Merwe were the Titans' big heroes.
He has also played a significant part in Hampshire's success this season.
Since taking over the role of spinner from Shane Warne, he has knocked over 36 wickets in six first-class matches.
The great advantage for the Titans is that Tahir is now a local player. This means they have to pick only three black players to complete their quota of four.
Tahir will also be one of the Titans' key players in the Champions' League tournament, which will be played in India from 3 to 10 December.
The tournament, in which eight teams compete, is the richest provincial tournament in the world. The Titans and Dolphins will represent South Africa.
The other participating teams are the Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Super Kings (India), Victoria Bushrangers and the West Australian Warriors (Australia), Middlesex (Engeland) and Pakistan's champion, which will be crowned next month.
There is R50m on offer as prize money. The winner gets R26m and the runner-up just over R8m.
Even if the Titans were to win none of their games, they would still earn more money than they received as the winners of last season's local ODI and Pro20 series.
Each team will receive about R2 million just for participating in the tournament.