A Tale of Two Selection Policies
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Monday 18th February, 2008 15 A tale of two selection policies f India have the Yuvraj lower order is crumbling as Norman Arendse, now Cricket Singh conundrum to worry the runrate pressure adds its South Africa's president, was Iabout, Sri Lanka have weight to the efforts to take an accident waiting to happen major concerns of their own control of the game at crucial to some in the country's senior this current tour Down Under. stages. administrtaive hierarchy. It also has certain reper- Surely it is all After a very pub- cussions, Yahaluweni that about taking on The Chesterfield lic verbal brawl with selectors and team manage- responsibility and a Files the national coach ment will hope solve itself. shortened series as Mickey Arthur and But there is this underlying this doesn't give the Gailor Majola, feeling the thinking is on side with players Cricket South quick solutions instead of batting with form to Africa's tough, but long-term answers and this is find touch. fair-minded chief not being clever. It is understand- executive who under- Russel Arnold's retirement last year has not only removed a quality player from the squad, but one with experience What it comes down to is able why Sri Lanka's stands diplomacy, and who helped the lower-order work when under pressure. the old allegory of Robbing captain Mahela which Arendse does- Peter to pay Paul, and it's not Jayawardene is seek- n't, there has been a vote of no confidence by CSA's Jennings and captain Graeme it wouldn't surprise if at some working. Using a middle-order ing run-making con- climb down of sorts. general council. How can a Smith when asked politely stage pointed questions are batsman Tillekeratne Dilshan sistency and the bat- Both have apologised captain and coach and team skirted the issues of the debu- asked by other national bod- to open the batting, is taking men to challenge to the public for concentrate on two important tant Tsolekile's performances ies, what planet is he on. away a run banker from the themselves and do by Trevor their behaviour over tours (of Bangladesh and in that two-match 2004 series Trying to play a Test or middle-order while another is better. But he and Chesterfield the selection policy India) with such divisive back- in India. His flawed glovework ODI series with a team whose out of touch. Kumar Sangakkara row. ground issues? and batting finally convinced skill levels are diluted is not The dropping of Upul and to an extent Jayasuriya Why Majola should apolo- What the current even the biggest supporter of smart corporate thinking at Tharanga because of dodgy and Dilshan cannot be expect- gise is a moot point, but imbroglio within CSA circles transformation and targets all. To make the issue public form is something you feel the ed to do it all. Arendse should resign for his over team selection came that there were still some the way he has is an embar- selectors and team manage- With no one really emerg- behaviour over how to select a down to is about selecting a areas in need of major rassment to Cricket South ment hoped wouldn't happen. ing from the last Youth World side for an international tour. team on form and with creden- improvement. Africa. It has exposed batting risk Cup squad to challenge for This is the demand for targets tials and a long-term vision Because of her past, South Amid the wreckage areas in the side that is going places, the questions of coach- and transformation. It not than drafting in players who Africa has a unique situation wrought by Arendse's efforts to take time to find the ing levels, often raised in only left the rank and file of despite good domestic records and the use of the transforma- to have coach Arthur and his answers. these files, need to be asked CSA embarrassed, but also the still have questionmarks tion system is slowly doing its deputy Vincent Barnes A point so often overlooked again. Also, more A team main sponsors and senior for- against their international job by bringing through play- removed as selectors, Majola, is the absence of lower order capabilities. ers from the previously disad- as CEO displaying yet again experience. Russel Arnold's Arendse, who heads South vantaged communities. his streetwise knowledge and retirement last year has not Africa's black advocates for It is where improved edu- acute diplomacy with transfor- only removed a quality player transformation body, went for cation levels and exposure cre- mation policy issues. from the squad, but one with the holistic approach than the ates a better system and quali- As well as using negotia- experience and who helped realistic one. It is also known ty coaching increases the tion in the case of pointing the lower-order work when that his relationship with skills in the number of trans- out the error of sacking selec- under pressure. Majola is not an easy one. formation players at the vari- tors as those responsible were And while looking at this They see the problem of ous tiers of provincial level. coerced into the decision with- aspect, suggestions that transformation and selection But don't saddle them with the out reading the fine print of Chamara Kapugedera is the policy from different angles; stigma of targets: they prefer the contracts of the coaches answer has so far drawn a Majola is a pragmatist and not honesty and transparency (and Arendse is a trained serious blank. Anyone with a seduced by the emotional rhet- through selection on merit advocate), Majola is also well limited overs international oric that is part of Arendse's and not colour. A squad of aware of the pitfalls facing the batting average below sixteen brief of how to take the game twenty-five transformation Proteas outside the country. and a first-class career with forward, and this in a nation players selected on merit have Arendse's tactics are not only one century, begs the seriously beset by horrendous already made an impact on the the way the president of CSA question, is he the best emerg- identity problems as well as game. should behave, whether in ing talent Sri Lanka have on that of crime and other mal- But compromising stan- public or otherwise. He has offer? functioned issues. dards to achieve targets cre- been made to look foolish and It is said he has skills and Yet Arendse often comes ates a credibility problem at untrustworthy in the process quality, but what he has shown across as someone who would international level. If national by giving the game he should so far is form that represents rather be elsewhere than selection policy is interfered be serving an ugly image by his average and that is an doing his duty as CSA presi- with by a board president who treating it as his fiefdom. embarrassment when it comes dent. One incident was when doesn't understand the level of email: to the balance sheet ledger. presenting retiring Shaun competition a team is facing, [email protected] Selectors need more than Pollock with a farewell gold promising talent to help win medal in the dining room at matches: they need an average The Wanderers on the last day to match. of the all-rounder's career. To suggest that he is the Perhaps this is why he wished answer to fill the gap left by his daughter a 'happy birth- Aravinda de Silva is a matter T.M. Dilshan day' instead of adopting the of clutching at straws. ethical approach of giving Frankly, no one will replace tours are needed if the quality mer administrators. such a message in private. De Silva. He was a very spe- talent is to emerge. Arendse behaved as would When it comes to selection cial talent on his own and to This brings me to another any schoolboy bully unable to issues, however, Arendse has expect a twenty-year-old to point, and while far removed get his way in the playground, forgotten, it seems, the mal- perform this role is creating from the island, it reflects or as do certain politicians adroit embarrassment the pressure mind games with the problems in South Africa, a make ugly threats when his South African team manage- youngster. He can't cope and nation still emerging from a political demands were ment had to face during the that is obvious. troubled past. It is a country rebuffed. India tour of He may have been talented where, for a start, Jackie The selection row only November/December 2004 at school, and even at club Selebi, the national commis- became public knowledge with Thami Tsolekile in place level, but as with so many sioner of police and former because Arendse used a cer- of an 'out of form' Mark over-blown reputations, he has Interpol president, has been tain supporter on the general Boucher. yet to match someone such as suspended. He is under crimi- council, who was told to leak He was not only out of his say England's Alistair Cook nal investigation for a rela- information to a particular depth; perceptive Indian who is quality and displays it tionship with a known South media man in Durban. This media asked the serious ques- regularly. If you take Sanath African druglord, murderer particular writer has written tion during the Kolkata Test: Jayasuriya as an example, and mafia gangster. any number of damaging sto- 'If this is the best South Africa why at the same age had to If you have been following ries before and is protected by have after Boucher, your affir- double centuries to his credit the sports headlines, you will his sources in CSA when it mative action programme is for the then B team.