Terbrugge lands third seamer spot

Red-haired, fresh and freckled faced and 21, Terbrugge is the latest recruit to the South African side, but this time he has a special role: third seamer and swing bowler in the first Test team for the historic opening match of series of five matches against the West Indies.

Then an hour after earning what could be the crucial place in the side the kid who in three weeks came from no where played a joke on his captain, New Zealander Ken Rutherford but pretending to ``pull a hammy''. Which shows that the young man also has a sense of humour. And as the third red-head in the squad, Brian Lara's tourists will be seeing a lot more red in the weeks to come than a ball being whipped passed their noses.

While there had been much speculation most of it fueled by inside knowledge which had been leaked Terbrugge, who has Belgian ancestry, saw his name on the box when the 12 names for the Wanderers match was announced as the rain belted down in the SuperSport Series game against Northerns.

Later Barry Skjoldhammer, Gauteng's chairman, carried several bottles of South African sparkling wine into the dressing room after the match against Northerns for the players to join in celebrating with Terbrugge and his teammate Adam Bacher, who was recalled, although his patchy form in this last match was anything but convincing.

Naturally Terbrugge's initial response was your typical ``over the moon''. But then there were also some thoughtful comments, including a peek into his thinking and how the delivery, with which he bowled Hansie Cronje in the Gauteng-Free State game in Bloemfontein two weeks ago, was possibly his first step towards winning a Test cap ``long before it was expected''.

``Cronje,'' said Terbrugge, ``looked down the pitch at me with a mixture of surprise and I wondered what on earth I had done? It made me think ... It was a good ball. I think it surprised him.''

Quite a modest comment.

Before that game was over Cronje was on the phone to Rodney Ontong, the Gauteng bowling coach, to discover a little more about the Rand Afrikaans University swing bowler who admits that Fanie de Villiers is the bowler on whom he would like to model his action.

Terbrugge, brought in as the third seamer, is one of four changes to the last test side which lost to England at Headingly, Leeds, in August. Out go Brian McMillan (retired), Gerhardus Liebenberg and Makhaya Ntini while Bacher is back for Liebenebrg and Paul Adams is part of the 12 along with the expected recall of Pat Symcox.

Bacher's recall is more to do with his form in earlier A Section matches this month than the game against Northerns where he looked out of place in both innings. Yesterday he struggled to reach 35 and ran out the attacking left-hander Sven Koenig in the process.

De Villiers also sees the flame-haired young man who earned SA Schools caps in 1993 and again the next year, as well as a SA under19 cap in 1995, as his natural successor as an outswing bowler in the South African side. Yet, with Ntini who has shown little form to warrant selection, the question should be asked whether or not De Villiers announced his retirement a summer too soon?

The recall of Symcox and Adams is an interesting one fraught with political issues. Symcox's last test was against Pakistan at the Wanderers during a damp February when he scored a century. Since then he has played any number of limited-overs slogs and visits to England and Bangladesh for that purpose.

But his recall to the test arena has been a hard road and injects a touch of Australian style competitiveness in to side. We have to wait and see why Adams, who even by his own standards, must admit he is not bowling well, has been included.

The side is:

Gary Kirsten, Adam Bacher, Jacques Kallis, Daryll Cullinan, Hansie Cronje (capt), Jonty Rhodes, Shaun Pollock, Mark Boucher, Pat Symcox, Allan Donald, Paul Adams, David Terbrugge.