SA field a ``Dad's Army''

Not to be outdone, World Cup champions Sri Lanka are delaying naming their 15 players for the Standard Bank tournament until Saturday, the day before they play South Africa at the Wanderers.

Injuries to Chaminda Vaas and Nuwan Zoysa have been cited as the reason for the hold up, although the Zoysa injury is more of a worry to The Management with a reccurance of the thigh problem which has sidelined the beanpole left-arm fast bowler.

Pakistan have placed a batsman Akhtar Sarfaraz, all-rounder Abdul Razzak and the controversial Aaqib Javed on stand by as they await a medical report on players injured in the two ODIs against Zimbabwe at the weekend. Razzak was in South Africa in January as a member of the under-19 World Cup side.

As for South Africa's ``squad of old men'' reports in two English papers yesterday accused Peter Pollock's national selection panel of playing a dangerous game by including 37-year-old Pat Symcox, 35-year-old Mike Rinndel and 33-year-old new cap Steve Elworthy.

British national dailies, in advance of the tour of England later this year, poked fun at the selections and suggested the team's physio, Craig Smith, would be in need of large doses of linament and bandages as well as special treatment for the older members of the side. And with Roger Telemachus known to be injury prone, the lack of a consistent new-ball attack could be a worry to Hansie Cronje, the team's captain.

Cronje, who is likely to have had a hand in selecting the squad announced at SuperSport Centurion on Monday, made his views known after the side was announced when he quipped ``perhaps anyone over 26 is a veteran these days''. Pollock (snr) defended the policy of selecting the recalled Rindel and Symcox along with handing out a new caps to Elworthy and Telemachus. He said the ``youth policy was a media perception'' because of a number of young players selected in recent months.

``It is no correct to say that we (the selectors) have stated we have embarked on a youth policy,'' he added.

The idea of naming a squad of experienced and known limited-overs specialists for the three-week tournament is due to a dual role: rotating a squad over the series which means players need to be match fit; the second option is giving Cronje more all-rounders seen to be front line bowlers.

Shaun Pollock has been included in the squad but is unlikely to play until the slogs move to East London and Port Elizabeth on April 11 and 13. Yet in Elworthy and Telemachus South Africa have two swing bowlers whose key role is their ability to effectively use the new ball, especially during the first 15 overs.

But, as Pollock (snr) pointed out, these days the middle-overs, from 16 to 40 is also a worry. It has reached the stage where the full 50 overs ``can be regarded as a slog''.

Elworthy's all-round role can see him move up or down the order to suit the needs of the game, which is where he has fufilled an invaluable role for Northerns. People seem to forget he was used as a pinch-hitter by Lancashire in the B&H series in 1996.

Trevor Chesterfield Cricket writer Pretoria News tche@ptn.independent.co.za

Contributed by The Management (help@cricinfo.com)