Tough opposition for WI tour opener

RANDJESFONTEIN: West Indies have delayed naming a side for their South African cricket tour opener against a strong Nicky Oppenheimer XI until just before the start today. Unfortunately, the tour opener happens to be a one-day match, but it will be played with red balls and players clothed in white flannels, rather than the customary white balls and “pyjama” gear.

“This is not the ideal preparation we would have wanted ahead of a Test series, but we will be looking to make the most of it,” West Indies manager Ricky Skerritt told CMC Sports. “In light of all this, the tour selectors have decided that they will not trim the final squad and they will make everyone available for selection for Wednesday’s match,” he added. The Oppenheimer XI is captained by all-rounder Lance Klusener, who has been trying to work his way back into the side, since he and the United Cricket Board of South Africa fell out following the Cricket World Cup 2003. Klusener’s side inc-ludes four other players with international experience for South Africa. They are batsman Ashwell Prince, wicketkeeper/batsman Morne van Wyk, fast bowler Victor Mpitsang, and the left-arm seamer Charl Willoughby.

Some of the others did well in the preliminary stages of the South African First-Class championship that resumes with the play-off rounds when the West Indies tour ends. Benjamin Hector had the third highest run aggregate when the Championship broke and Hashim Amla, a teammate of Windward Islands fast bowler Nixon McLean, has also been in the pink of form with the bat. Garnett Kruger, who is among the top 10 bowlers in the Champion-ship, has also been named. West Indies arrived from Zimbabwe for a tour of four Tests and five One-Day Internationals against the South Africans over the next two months with captain Brian Lara warning they were unfazed by one of the most humiliating episodes in the team’s history in an earlier tour. Lara was captain when the West Indies toured South Africa in 1998-99 and were whitewashed 5-0 in the Tests series and lost six of seven matches in the One-Day Internati-onal series.

Squads:
OPPENHEIMER’S XI: Lance Klusener (captain), Hashim Amla, Morne van Wyk, Ashwell Prince, Goolam Bodi, Benjamin Hector, Albie Morkel, Vaughan van Jaarsveld, Garnett Kruger, Victor Mpitsang, Charl Willoughby; 12th man: Welcome Plessie.
WEST INDIES (from): Brian Lara (captain), Ramnaresh Sarwan (vice-captain), Wavell Hinds, Chris Gayle, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Ridley Jacobs, Mervyn Dillon, Marlon Samuels, Corey Collymore, Fidel Edwards, Ravi Rampaul, Omari Banks, Daren Ganga, Carlton Baugh, Vasbert Drakes.