What would SA cricket be without a bit of controversy? One would have thought after all that has passed regarding dubious selection decisions surfacing during the Social Justice and Nation-building hearings that the Proteas’ brains trust would place importance on making their reasoning for choices clear.
But queue the selection of Warriors leftarmer Marco Jansen for the first Test against India ahead of Duanne Olivier, who was widely expected to be a shoo-in to face the tourists.
He was expected to replace injured Anrich Nortjé and make a return to Test cricket against India, having last played for SA against Sri Lanka in 2019 before controversially taking up a Kolpak contract with Yorkshire.
As a result of his choice to play overseas, there was already polarisation in cricketing circles regarding his selection to the squad for the India series upon his return to the country and it was therefore imperative that clear reasons were given as why he was not playing.
It’s called communication. Pretty simple really.
But when Proteas convener of selectors Victor Mpitsang was on Sunday asked by various publications why Olivier was not featuring, there was a stony silence.
Of course, speculation and social media debate came crashing through the door and Mpitsang was eventually forced into providing reasons on Monday which he did through a statement.
It said that Olivier was suffering lingering effects of having tested positive for Covid-19 and that he was also nursing a slight hamstring injury.
Why not say that from the start?
Surely a simple one-liner from Mpitsang or captain Dean Elgar at the toss would have sufficed.
This would have avoided all the speculation and social media bashing of Jansen, who as it was did not have the best of starts to his Test career though displaying signs of promise.
So, it follows that some SA cricket fans and pundits will continue to question the validity of the explanation.
The issue at hand though is bigger than Jansen’s selection over Olivier.
It is an issue of transparency, something which has been lacking in SA cricket at times in recent years.
Hopefully, a lesson has been learnt, but we certainly will not be holding our breath.
HeraldLIVE
Proteas’ selectors must be transparent
Image: Lee Warren/Gallo Images
What would SA cricket be without a bit of controversy? One would have thought after all that has passed regarding dubious selection decisions surfacing during the Social Justice and Nation-building hearings that the Proteas’ brains trust would place importance on making their reasoning for choices clear.
But queue the selection of Warriors leftarmer Marco Jansen for the first Test against India ahead of Duanne Olivier, who was widely expected to be a shoo-in to face the tourists.
He was expected to replace injured Anrich Nortjé and make a return to Test cricket against India, having last played for SA against Sri Lanka in 2019 before controversially taking up a Kolpak contract with Yorkshire.
As a result of his choice to play overseas, there was already polarisation in cricketing circles regarding his selection to the squad for the India series upon his return to the country and it was therefore imperative that clear reasons were given as why he was not playing.
It’s called communication. Pretty simple really.
But when Proteas convener of selectors Victor Mpitsang was on Sunday asked by various publications why Olivier was not featuring, there was a stony silence.
Of course, speculation and social media debate came crashing through the door and Mpitsang was eventually forced into providing reasons on Monday which he did through a statement.
It said that Olivier was suffering lingering effects of having tested positive for Covid-19 and that he was also nursing a slight hamstring injury.
Why not say that from the start?
Surely a simple one-liner from Mpitsang or captain Dean Elgar at the toss would have sufficed.
This would have avoided all the speculation and social media bashing of Jansen, who as it was did not have the best of starts to his Test career though displaying signs of promise.
So, it follows that some SA cricket fans and pundits will continue to question the validity of the explanation.
The issue at hand though is bigger than Jansen’s selection over Olivier.
It is an issue of transparency, something which has been lacking in SA cricket at times in recent years.
Hopefully, a lesson has been learnt, but we certainly will not be holding our breath.
HeraldLIVE
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