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JOHANNESBURG - South Africa named seven players of colour in their World Cup cricket squad today, retaining the same 15 who were on duty in the recent one-day series against Pakistan.
Cricket South Africa chief executive Gerald Majola made a promise to the government two years ago that
there would be a minimum of seven players of colour in the squad for the 2007 World Cup in the Caribbean, which starts next month.
The selectors delivered the promise by naming batsmen Loots Bosman, Herschelle Gibbs and Ashwell Prince, spinner Robin Peterson and pacemen Charl Langeveldt, Makhaya Ntini and Roger Telemachus.
South Africa beat Pakistan 3-1 in a five-match series that ended in Johannesburg on Wednesday and their reward was for the entire squad to be kept intact.
The series victory helped South Africa to close the gap on defending World Cup champions Australia at the top of the International Cricket Council ODI rankings to just two points.
"It's a huge honour captaining this team to the World Cup and knowing that I have full confidence in all 15 players makes me even prouder," captain Graeme Smith said.
"This team has come a long way since 2003, it is much calmer and confident and we just need to adapt to conditions in the Caribbean and deal with the pressures."
Despite not playing a game in the series, Telemachus was preferred to hard-hitting all rounder Johan van der Wath, while Boeta Dippenaar lost out to Bosman even though he was man of the series in South Africa's last tour of West Indies in 2004/05.
Coach Mickey Arthur said Telemachus had been preferred to Van der Wath because he would be used behind the new ball bowlers.
"Roger provides us with variation if the pitch is slow, he bowls wicket-to-wicket in the middle overs and can reverse the ball and is very good at the death," Arthur said.
"Johan van der Wath has done really well for us in the past, but he is a new ball bowler and he competes with Makhaya Ntini and Shaun Pollock."
Convenor of selectors Haroon Lorgat said Dippenaar's omission was because the team were looking to play aggressive cricket at the start of their innings.
"That decision was made around the game plan because we want to get off to quick starts in the powerplays. Boeta is unlucky, but he had five innings in the Champions Trophy in which to cement his place at the top of the order," he said.
Graeme Smith's squad has a settled look about it with himself, Mark Boucher, Gibbs, Andrew Hall, Jacques Kallis, Langeveldt, Ntini, Peterson and Shaun Pollock all having appeared in previous World Cups.
Boucher and Gibbs will be playing in their third World Cup, while Kallis and Pollock were members of the 1996, 1999 and 2003 South African teams.
South Africa are in Group A with Australia, the Netherlands and Scotland. Their first match is against the Dutch in St Kitts on March 16.
Squad - Graeme Smith (captain), Jacques Kallis, Loots Bosman, Mark Boucher (wicketkeeper), AB de Villiers, Herschelle Gibbs, Andrew Hall, Justin Kemp, Charl Langeveldt, Andre Nel, Makhaya Ntini, Robin Peterson, Shaun Pollock, Ashwell Prince, Roger Telemachus.
- REUTERS