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South African fast bowler joins up with Warwickshire

Zondeki found selection tough

Cricinfo staff

April 22, 2008

	Monde Zondeki: 'In the end I just didn't want there to be any more controversy' © Getty Images

Zondeki's domestic figures from 2007-08 - 54 wickets at 20.16 for the Cape Cobras - certainly show he was good enough to earn selection for India, but his place came about after Charl Langeveldt withdrew from the squad. Langeveldt had been selected ahead of Andre Nel, who is now playing for Essex, as Cricket South Africa needed to maintain their quota allocation. However, Langeveldt didn't feel mentally able to go on the tour, something that Zondeki can sympathise with.

"It's wasn't easy for me to accept my selection for that tour," he told the Birmingham Post. "Not easy at all. It was an awkward way to be selected. It wasn't the way I'd hoped it would happen. It wasn't an easy decision to go. It was hard for me to accept. In the end I just didn't want there to be any more controversy.

"The thing is, I did have a really good season. I talked to the coach [Mickey Arthur] and he said I should see it as reward for that. He helped me a lot."

Zondeki didn't end up playing in any of the three Tests as the series was drawn 1-1, but has arrived for his county stint with Warwickshire in confident mood and will provide a much-needed cutting edge. Warwickshire only escaped with a draw in their first Championship match against Worcestershire because of rain on the final day. But how long Zondeki will remain available is still unclear with South Africa touring during the second half of the summer.

"I've talked to Dale [Steyn, who played for Warwickshire in 2007] about playing here and I'm not expecting quick and bouncy wickets," he said. "I know that I'm going to have to work hard and I know I'll have to look after myself. He really enjoyed it.

"I'm looking forward to it. The main reason I've come is to learn. I want to suck up as much information as possible. Pretty much every bowler who has come to play county cricket has improved and the chance to work with Allan Donald was too good to miss. It was him who contacted me and he is a major reason for coming."

Clearly, too, it won't harm his international ambitions to get regular cricket ahead of South Africa's four-Test series which starts in July. "There's a good chance that I will be selected," he said. "By the time they arrive, I should have got the hang of the conditions. If I do well here, I have a great opportunity." Warwickshire should make the most of him while they can.

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