South African cricket board president Percy Sonn today admitted he forced the Proteas to include coloured player Justin Ontong in their team for the third Test against Australia which started here today.

Sonn said he was presented with a team list last night and rejected it over what he saw as a "breach of policy".

"I did intervene on a matter of policy and that right is invested in me as president," Sonn said.

South Africa had originally selected Jacques Rudolph to make his Test debut in place of axed No.6 batsman Lance Klusener. The tourists probably would have shuffled their batting order to play Rudolph at No.3 and move Boeta Dippenaar to No.6.

But Sonn argued that "shuffling" was discriminatory to Ontong, who was selected on the tour as the lower order backup.

"Shuffling to me amounts to exclusion of a person of colour who has the right to be given the opportunity," said the president of the United Cricket Board of South Africa (UCB).

"If you look at our transformation charter ... it says if there are people of colour, who have previously been disadvantaged, we must ensure that those people get those opportunities."

He said the matter went beyond the UCB's stated policy of playing "at least one person of colour" in every Test.

That policy was met by the inclusion of Herschelle Gibbs.

"But the other policy says that if there is an opportunity for a person of colour to represent his country then we must make sure that he does get that opportunity.

"I regarded that as not having been complied with.

"The team was given to me without a certain player of colour (Ontong) who was selected to fill in a position in the batting list.

"So I intervened and I said `you take this team back and this is how I understand the policy and this policy must be complied with. You go back and reformulate your team'.

"Jacques Rudolph came over to shadow the first three - he's a top order batsman, as is Boeta Dippenaar. Ontong was brought in to shadow positions six and lower.

"If you try to shuffle number threes into number sixes you are doing something that is exclusionary to people who are brought in to shadow other positions."

Asked if he had taken into account Ontong's poor form in his only tour match - when he made a pair of ducks against New South Wales, Sonn said: "That was raised with me but I didn't regard that as cogent enough for me not to take action.

"And how do you determine form?

"When do you start gazing into the future and saying when form is going to be permanent?"

He said he spoke to South African captain Shaun Pollock about the matter, adding that the skipper didn't initially understand the policy.

Sonn rejected suggestions that pursuing the goal of transformation would weaken the team, saying his decision doesn't "of necessity produce a team or an effort that is less than the best we give".

© 2002 AAP