``We had asked for King to come out when Curtly Ambrose broke down in the fourth Test and it was clear Franklyn Rose's shoulder problem wasn't improving as fast as we thought,'' team manager Clive Lloyd said yesterday of the fast bowler who is one of four new players coming for the series of seven One-Day Internationals.
``Apparently, there was some difficulty in locating him and we were also told he could only be a replacement for someone who returned home,'' he said.
Lloyd indicated that King, who toured South Africa last season with the West Indies ``A'' team, would be fast-tracked into the Test team at Centurion Park, Pretoria, on Friday morning.
He said Courtney Walsh is almost fully recovered from his hamstring strain that kept him out of the fourth Test, but while Ambrose is ``making good progress'' after a similar injury sustained in the fourth Test he was unlikely to be risked.
``Curtly has been chosen for the One-Day series and we wouldn't want to rush him back into a Test if we're not sure he's fit enough to get through it,'' Lloyd said.
``We'll obviously see what conditions are like at Centurion before deciding on the starting XI but King will definitely be considered.''
Centurion is reputably favourable to fast bowling and King took eight wickets (five for 63 and three for 69) for the ``A'' team against a President's XI there.
Why Rose was not despatched earlier so that he could receive intensive treatment on an injury sustained two weeks ago in the third Test is as unclear as why King was not sent out as his replacement when requested so he could be better prepared for the final Test.
It is another example of the administrative bung-ling that has corresponded with the inept performances on the field throughout the tour.
King will be joined by Keith Arthurton, the 32-year-old utility left-hander, Neil McGarrell, the left-arm spinner, and the 28-year-old Keith Semple, who owes his surprise selection to his all-round performances in the three representative one-day matches for the ``A'' team in India.
Run out for nought in the first match, Semple followed with scores of 27 and 69 not out and bowled his full allocation of 10 overs in each match at an economy rate of 2.6 runs an over. He is excellent in the field.
Semple is one of four changes in the team that reached the final of the Wills International Cup in Bangladesh in October.
It represents a strange lack of continuity in what should be a steady build-up to the World Cup in England in May and June.
Daren Ganga, whose method and inexperience are not suited to the demands of the limited-overs game; Floyd Reifer, who has found South African conditions as difficult on this tour as he did with the ``A'' team, and Junior Murray, the reserve wicket-keeper to whom fielding is an obviously unfamiliar discipline, are the others who were not in Bangladesh.
The four who were there but have now given way are Merv Dillon, Clayton Lambert and Stuart Williams, in addition to the injured Rose.
Dillon has generally bowled with better control throughout the tour than any of the younger fast bowlers. Williams has a record in One-Day Internationals comparable with most (average 35.76 in 46 matches, higher than Carl Hooper and Shivnarine Chanderpaul). Lambert at least knows that it's like to score a hundred in one.
In addition, Dillon and Williams are two of the finest fielders in the team.