Out go Mike Rindel, Herschelle Gibbs and Andrew Hudson from the Gold Medal side in Kuala Lumpur while no place has yet been made available for HD Ackerman.
But as the selectors have a list of ``about 20 to 22 players from which to select'' the guess is that they are still examining a list of options, which also includes that of an opening batsman.
While Daryll Cullinan has been slotted in as Rindel's replacement, the selectors are expecting Hansie Cronje's side to beat England in the quarter-final draw when the knock-out series opens on October 25. As it is the start of England's tour of Australia has clashed for the ICC fund-raiser for ``developing and emergent'' and have declined to select their top limited-overs side. Which in turn downgrades the series.
What is interesting is the balance of the spinners in the side. The highly competitive and unselfish Nicky Boje deserves his place in the side ahead of Paul Adams who needs to rethink his strategy after the disaster at Old Trafford. The left-arm spinner seems to have lost his knack of being able to pitch the ball into the rough and spin the ball away from the batsman.
Derek Crookes who played a pivotal role in Sri Lanka on the A team tour and at the Commonwealth Games, has already been considered as the alternative to Pat Symcox. For one thing he has a superior batting average and his bowling economy rate is perhaps a fraction ahead of Symcox.
Yet with only 11 of the 14 players in the squad are guaranteed of a place in the side for the first game, the hope is that the side is going to squeeze past the possible semi-finalists: New Zealand, Sri Lanka or Zimbabwe. The Kiwis and Zimbaweans meet in a preliminary game for the honour of a match against Sri Lankans in the last eight.
But as has been explained, the idea is to keep as many of the team which played in England and Malaysia together for the Bangladesh tournament. After that it depends largely on the form of the individuals in the Standard Bank League and the limited-overs internationals against the West Indies in January and February.
The squad is: Hansie Cronje (captain), Gary Kirsten, Daryll Cullinan, Jacques Kallis, Jonty Rhodes, Dale Benkenstein, Shaun Pollock, Pat Symcox, Mark Boucher, Nicky Boje, Alan Dawson, Makhaya Ntini, Derek Crookes, Steve Elworthy.
Source: CricInfo
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