South Africa name seven players of colour for World Cup

JOHANNESBURG, Feb 15 (Reuters) South Africa named seven players of colour in their World Cup squad today, retaining the same 15 who were on duty in the recent one-day series against Pakistan.

Cricket South Africa chief executive Gerald Majola made a promise to the government two years ago that there would be a minimum of seven players of colour in the squad for the 2007 World Cup in the Caribbean, which starts next month.

The selectors delivered the promise by naming batsmen Loots Bosman, Herschelle Gibbs and Ashwell Prince, spinner Robin Peterson and pacemen Charl Langeveldt, Makhaya Ntini and Roger Telemachus.

South Africa beat Pakistan 3-1 in a five-match series that ended in Johannesburg yesterday and their reward was for the entire squad to be kept intact.

Despite not playing a game in the series, Telemachus was preferred to hard-hitting all rounder Johan van der Wath, while Boeta Dippenaar lost out to Bosman even though he was man of the series in South Africa's last tour of West Indies in 2004/05.

Graeme Smith's squad has a settled look about it with himself, Mark Boucher, Gibbs, Andrew Hall, Jacques Kallis, Langeveldt, Ntini, Peterson and Shaun Pollock all having appeared in previous World Cups.

Boucher and Gibbs will be playing in their third World Cup, while Kallis and Pollock were members of the 1996, 1999 and 2003 South African teams.

South Africa are in Group A with Australia, the Netherlands and Scotland. Their first match is against the Dutch in St Kitts on March 16.

Squad - Graeme Smith (captain), Jacques Kallis, Loots Bosman, Mark Boucher (wicketkeeper), AB de Villiers, Herschelle Gibbs, Andrew Hall, Justin Kemp, Charl Langeveldt, Andre Nel, Makhaya Ntini, Robin Peterson, Shaun Pollock, Ashwell Prince, Roger Telemachus.

REUTERS SSC KN2349