The United Cricket Board (UCB) yesterday sprung into action in a damage-control exercise after the new selection panel's controversial first national squad was announced on Thursday.

Captain Hansie Cronje, despite having been earmarked for wider powers since the resignation of long-time coach Bob Woolmer, was effectively put on trial by being named to lead the South African team for just the limited-overs series in Kenya, the two Tests against Zimbabwe and the first two Tests of the England series, while senior batsman Daryll Cullinan arrived back in the country to hear over the radio that he had been dropped.

UCB managing director Ali Bacher confirmed yesterday that a big meeting has been planned for Monday in Durban, with Cronje and new coach Graham Ford in attendance, to discuss selection policy.

Cullinan's absence from the team for Kenya is a surprise, given that last season was a memorable one for the classy Gauteng batsman, particularly during his record-breaking spree in New Zealand. Bacher said yesterday that the selectors did try to contact Cullinan as soon as they heard he was back from a two-month holiday in Bermuda, but they only managed to get hold of him yesterday morning, once the damage had been done.

Cullinan is known to have a very sensitive temperament and, remarkably low in confidence for someone so talented, it has not been a pretty sight when he has been dished up similar treatment in the past. Although admitting that he had done pretty well overall last season, the selectors have apparently turfed Cullinan out because of his failure to produce a match-winning innings in either of the two crunch World Cup matches against Australia. The policy smacks of one the discredited English selectors have used whereby players such as Graeme Hick are dropped because they didn't score the volume of runs they produced in county cricket.

Similarly, the treatment of Cronje is nothing short of a disgrace. The selectors claim they are putting South Africa's most experienced captain under pressure to try and get the best out of him and the team, but if Cronje has a failing it is that he is sometimes too intense and tough on himself. There is no harder trier in world cricket and, notwithstanding the disappointments of the World Cup, South Africa's record last season of a 5-0 Test and 6-1 limited-overs triumph over the West Indies, victory in both series against New Zealand and missing out on the World Cup final by the narrowest of margins, is just about all anyone could ask for.

Rushdie Magiet's new selection panel seem to have taken a bad leaf out of Nick Mallett's chaotic rugby selection manual and a worried captain will not make life any easier for Ford in his difficult step up to national coach. When asked about the team, Ford said "I don't want to be drawn on selection. I'm hoping that everything will be cleared up when Hansie and myself meet with the selectors on Monday."

Man-management is perhaps Ford's greatest quality, but by failing to pick his brains on the squad before announcing it, the selectors have handed the new coach a potentially unstable situation by creating tensions within the team.

Bacher said yesterday that, in future, the captain and coach would have an input on the team, either formally at the selection meeting or informally in discussions prior to the choosing of the squad.