There could be a big-name casualty when South Africa’s United Cricket Board (UCB) announces its list of contracted players at the end of this month
Telford Vice08-May-2003There could be a big-name casualty when South Africa’s United Cricket Board (UCB) announces its list of contracted players at the end of this month. Meetings at the weekend and next week will determine which players – and there will be a maximum of 20 – will be on the UCB’s books for the next 11 months.The suits who sign the cheques will be guided by Omar Henry, South Africa’s convenor of selectors, who will make recommendations on individual players. And Henry declined to give Lance Klusener a vote of confidence when Wisden CricInfo spoke to him on Wednesday.”We know what he can do and what he can’t do,” Henry sidestepped when asked if he was satisfied with Klusener’s performance during the past year. “Andrew Hall had a fantastic domestic season and he has done well in the South African team, and then there’s Albie Morkel and Justin Kemp. We didn’t know enough about them before last season. Now that we do we need to put Klusener’s name among those and discuss it.”Eric Simons, the recently appointed national coach, also couldn’t bring himself to back the previously pyrotechnic left-hander when asked whether there was a place for Klusener in his blueprint. “There’s always a place for anyone who is playing good cricket,” Simons said. “I’m happy with the way Klusener has performed … uhh, well, I’m not unhappy.”Klusener scored just one half-century in this year’s World Cup, and he was left out of the squad for the subsequent tour of Bangladesh. He was also deemed surplus to requirements for the South Africa A tour of Australia. That would seem to indicate that he will not be part of the forthcoming tour of England, because there won’t be any cricket in or involving South Africa before they arrive in the UK on June 16.If Klusener does not have his current top-tier contract renewed it will mark a spectacular fall from iconhood. He terrorised almost every bowler he faced in the 1999 World Cup, where he averaged 140.50 and was the single major reason why South Africa reached the semi-finals.His efforts were recognised when he was named Player of the Tournament, and when he was ordained as one of Wisden’s Five Cricketers of the Year in 2000.Klusener belied no sense of impending unemployment on Wednesday, and revealed that his services were being sought outside South Africa. Would he consider playing abroad if his UCB contract was not renewed? “Absolutely! I’d be off before the dust had settled,” Klusener told us.”I’ve certainly had offers from Australia, which are very inviting.” But there were cons as well as pros: “Playing in Australia would coincide with South Africa’s domestic season, which is a problem. And if I play in England that would mean a year of nonstop cricket.”Klusener, who’s now 31 and married with a young child, was philosophical about his prospects. “If there’s a future for me in South African cricket, that’s great. If there isn’t, that’s tough. It’s a big world out there.”Only the six players who will enter the second half of two-year contracts can be sure of keeping their jobs in the unsettled scenario in which South African cricket finds itself after a disastrous year – last season’s thrashing by Australia and this year’s World Cup debacle, where South Africa, the main hosts, were tearful first-round casualties.The smug six are Shaun Pollock, Jacques Kallis, Herschelle Gibbs, Makhaya Ntini, Mark Boucher and Paul Adams. Graeme Smith, as captain, must surely be contracted. Gone from the current pool will be Allan Donald and Jonty Rhodes, who have retired. Nantie Hayward (now with Worcestershire) and Roger Telemachus are unlikely to be re-signed – and nor is the unlucky Steve Elworthy.Klusener may well suffer a similar fate. If he does, it will be a clear case of “Come in No. 69: Your time is up.”