da blaze casino： South Africa’s cricketers reacted angrily to suggestions that seniorplayers had bullied the younger ones into going along with the decision toreturn home from the tour of Sri Lanka
Dileep Premachandran in Colombo17-Aug-2006
Mark Boucher was incensed by the local media coverage of South Africa’s pull out © Getty Images
South Africa’s cricketers reacted angrily to suggestions that seniorplayers had bullied the younger ones into going along with the decision toreturn home from the tour of Sri Lanka. They were also fuming about thelocal media coverage of the withdrawal, with one prominent local dailycarrying the back-page headline ‘South African cricketers chicken out’.Another, the Daily Mirror published out of Colombo alleged thatMark Boucher, Shaun Pollock, Makhaya Ntini, Andrew Hall, Andre Nel andMickey Arthur, the coach, were instrumental in the South Africans decidingto go home. The article also suggested that the decision had less todo with security, and more to do with their 2-0 loss in the Test series,and a fear of similar disappointments in the one-day games.”It was a decision taken by everyone,” said AB de Villiers, one of theyounger players that had a lot to gain by playing here. “It was anopportunity for the young guys to play a few games in subcontinentconditions [with the Champions Trophy just two months away], and it’sunfortunate that it won’t happen. I’m prepared to give everything whileplaying for South Africa, but not my life.”de Villiers also said that those who criticised the team weren’t aware ofthe facts of the matter. “It’s nonsense to judge someone without beinghere in their situation. We’re foreigners here, not knowing what’s goingon, and with bombs going off near us. The security guys are telling us togo home, and that’s good enough for me.”Boucher, who was expected to captain the side during the one-day series,was incensed by the coverage, not least because it was his face that wasprominently displayed beneath the chicken headline. “It’s disappointing,”he said, “and there’s not much that you can do once such stuff ispublished.”Loots Bosman, the 29-year-old opening bat who was expected to get hischance here in Graeme Smith’s absence, was probably the man with most togain had South Africa stayed on. But he insisted that there was going to be only one decision after the team’s security advisors told them the risk was untenable.”Obviously, the whole situation is about safety,” he told Cricinfo. “It’snot a junior-senior issue. On the cricketing front, it’s unfortunate, butI can’t do much about it or have any control over such situations. MaybeI’ll get an opportunity to represent South Africa again.”Having fielded calls all day regarding the alleged split within the ranks,Gordon Templeton, the team’s media manager, also didn’t mince words whenasked his opinion about the stories called by the and the . “Those with anything between their ears, and who understandcricket, would find such stories utterly laughable.”The team leaves Colombo on Friday morning, flying to Johannesburg via HongKong, but the ill-feeling that they leave behind may linger for some time.