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South Africa in India 2007-08
Team should be picked by selectors alone - Kallis
Siddhartha Vaidyanathan in Chennai
March 23, 2008
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Jacques Kallis: "The most frustrating part is that people who shouldn't be getting involved get involved. If it stayed with the selectors people will be happy."
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Jacques Kallis has admitted that the recent controversies over the
selection of the South African squad has been "frustrating" and hopes
that the task of choosing the side is left solely to the selectors in
the future.
Kallis' statements come in the wake of Charl Langeveldt pulling out of
the Indian tour, reportedly because he was chosen for quota reasons.
He replaced Andre Nel, who also expressed his disappointment over the
non-selection.
"The selection issue has been frustrating over the last year," Kallis
said ahead of the series against India. "The most frustrating part is
that people who shouldn't be getting involved get involved. If it
stayed with the selectors people will be happy - we all know what the
policies are. That's what the guys are frustrated about."
Kallis was echoing the views of Tony Irish, the chief executive of the South Africa Cricket Association (SACA).
Graeme Smith, however, felt his side would overcome selection
controversies and put up a brave fight in the series, starting in
Chennai on March 26. "It is a bit disappointing," he said. "We feel
for the players and have spoken to them. It affects the team
certainly. But we are mature enough and our job is to continue with
the game."
Gerald Majola, the chief executive of Cricket South Africa, had said the board should be careful while trying to adhere to the transformation policy. "It's about targets, we aspire to reach certain targets. But we also believe we need to be reasonable and look at what we have. It must be very frustrating for the players when things like 400 partnerships are overshadowed by players withdrawing from teams because of other issues. That's not where we want to be."
Siddhartha Vaidyanathan is an assistant editor at Cricinfo
© Cricinfo
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