Ken Borland

The withdrawal of batsman Zubayr Hamza from both the Proteas ODI and Test squads playing against Bangladesh was explained on Wednesday when the 26-year-old was revealed to have failed an ICC anti-doping test.

Hamza tested positive for Furosemide, a diuretic which can be used to get rid of performance-enhancing drugs. But while any use of prohibited substances is an icky look for a sportsman, Hamza, according to informed sources, is hopeful that he will be able to avoid getting it in the neck from the ICC by proving his ingestion of the substance was inadvertent.

New guidelines issued by the World Anti-Doping Agency last year have also downgraded the severity of diuretics and if their concentration in the body is less than 20ng/ml then no sanction is necessary.

According to Cricket South Africa’s statement released on Wednesday, Hamza has been able to say exactly how the substance entered his body and has accepted a voluntary suspension until he is able to prove the source of his positive test and his inadvertent use of Furosemide, which is also widely used to increase water loss from the body.

The worst-case scenario for prohibited use of Furosemide is a two-year ban, but Hamza’s representatives are believed to be hopeful that his punishment will be nowhere near as severe.

It is, however, another kick in the shins for one of the country’s most promising batsmen, who has only just returned to the national squad after a slump in form.

South Africa on Thursday named 29 different players for their ODI and T20 matches against Pakistan next month, which, even taking into account the larger squads needed for bio-secure bubbles and the players released to go to the IPL, could create the dangerous impression that the selectors are ‘calling all pockets’ to an extent.

A 22-man squad for the three ODIs that kick off the series includes uncapped players in Sisanda Magala, outstanding with the white-ball for the Lions, and in-form paceman Lizaad Williams, and returns for Aiden Markram, who is in a rich vein of form in red-ball cricket, all-rounder Wiaan Mulder and fast bowler Daryn Dupavillon.

George Linde is surprisingly not named in the squad, with Warriors veteran Jon-Jon Smuts filling the spin-bowling all-rounder berth. Andile Phehlukwayo, out of form and lacking game-time due to injury, hangs on to his place in the ODI squad, but will surely be under pressure from the likes of Mulder and Magala.

For the four-match T20 series, IPL stars Quinton de Kock, Anrich Nortje, Lungi Ngidi, David Miller and Kagiso Rabada will vacate their places, leading to call-ups for uncapped players in the hard-hitting Wihan Lubbe, Williams and pace bowler and lower-order hitter Migael Pretorius.

From the T20 squad that toured Pakistan last month, batsman Ryan Rickelton and fast bowlers Okuhle Cele and Nandre Burger, none of whom played a game, have been left out of the squad, while Phehlukwayo, Junior Dala, Smuts, Jacques Snyman and Glenton Stuurman all join the club as players dropped from the 17-man T20 squad.

While South Africa have traditionally viewed the T20 squad as a finishing school for new talent, a way to introduce new players to the Proteas culture, there is a World Cup coming up in just seven months time and new captain Temba Bavuma would no doubt like to start gelling his first-choice unit together.

Throwing the selection net wide is all good and well, but the selectors’ efforts will surely need to become more focused after this series.

Squads

ODI – Quinton de Kock, Janneman Malan, Aiden Markram, Temba Bavuma, Rassie van der Dussen, Kyle Verreynne, David Miller, Heinrich Klaasen, Jon-Jon Smuts, Andile Phehlukwayo, Wiaan Mulder, Sisanda Magala, Keshav Maharaj, Junior Dala, Kagiso Rabada, Lutho Sipamla, Lizaad Williams, Anrich Nortje, Beuran Hendricks, Daryn Dupavillon, Lungi Ngidi, Tabraiz Shamsi.

T20 – Temba Bavuma, Janneman Malan, Reeza Hendricks, Rassie van der Dussen, Pite van Biljon, Kyle Verreynne, Heinrich Klaasen, Wihan Lubbe, Dwaine Pretorius, George Linde, Bjorn Fortuin, Sisanda Magala, Migael Pretorius, Lutho Sipamla, Beuran Hendricks, Lizaad Williams, Tabraiz Shamsi.

The South African men’s hockey team’s hopes at the Commonwealth Games were quickly extinguished, but apart from scuppering any possibility of them adding to the Proteas squad’s impressive haul of medals, more insidious damage was done to the image of the game as a whole in this country.

South Africa began their campaign with a disappointing 4-2 loss to Scotland, who are not even in the top-20 of the world rankings, and were then hammered 4-0 by Australia and 6-0 by New Zealand. They ended the pool stage with a good 2-0 win over 11^th-ranked Canada, but they were still condemned to playing in the wooden-spoon playoff for ninth and 10^th place.

A 3-2 defeat at the hands of Wales, ranked 24^th in the world, completed a shocking tournament for South Africa.

No-one is questioning the commitment of the team, who are, after all, basically amateurs trying to compete with professionals, but questions have to be asked about the selection of the squad.

Surely for a tournament of the Commonwealth Games’ stature – which attracts plenty of media attention back home – the selectors should fill the team with their most experienced, best players? This was not the case with several seasoned campaigners being left at home as SA hockey tried to ‘build for the future’.

The South African Hockey Association (Saha) like to give plenty of lip about a lack of financial support from Sascoc and corporates, but in this instance they have shot themselves in the foot.

The Commonwealth Games, with its widespread coverage, is the ideal platform – second only to the Olympics in terms of our hockey – for SA hockey to make a statement. Winning a medal, which is not a realistic target in the World Cup later this year, would make the public and potential sponsors and supporters sit up and take notice.

Even our women’s side, which is a top-class outfit, disappointed, only managing to finish sixth thanks to defeats to India and Canada and a draw with Malaysia. Canada and Malaysia are not even ranked in the world top-20, while South Africa are 14^th.

It all just showed a lack of strategic thinking by Saha. No doubt the powers that be will say something about the mechanics of preparation for the World Cup being behind the Commonwealth Games failure. But a Commonwealth Games medal – or even a strong run for one – would have been a real fillip for the game back home, engendering far more positive PR than a 10^th-place finish in a World Cup that the average South African will be totally oblivious about.

A full-strength South African side would have had a chance to nick a medal on the Gold Coast, something which nobody expects them to do in the World Cup. Now, instead, the public opinion of hockey will once again be of a bunch of no-hopers.

Saha needs to make better decisions to ensure they at least give their under-resourced, struggling national teams some gloss.

https://www.pressreader.com/south-africa/the-citizen-gauteng/20180421/282376925178424

Featuring 18-year-olds to seasoned veterans, South Africa’s national men’s and women’s hockey squads for the year were announced on Thursday and are part of the South African Hockey Association’s planning through to next year’s Commonwealth Games and the race to regain as many of their world ranking points as they can.

Due to the loss of ranking points caused by not participating in last year’s Rio Olympics, South Africa’s women have slipped to 13th in the world rankings and the men are 15th. Nevertheless, South Africa will host the prestigious World League semi-finals for both men and women from July 3-24 and, with several top-10 nations taking part, even the smallest upset should improve their ranking.

Australia, Germany, Belgium, New Zealand, Ireland and Spain are the top-10 men’s sides coming to Johannesburg, while England, Argentina, the USA and Germany are the leading nations taking part in the women’s tournament.

A 25-strong women’s squad has been named and, even though there are no new caps, convenor of selectors Mickey Gordon explained that a structure had been put in place to improve the youth profile of the team.

“With a view to the World League Semi-Finals, the Africa Cup of Nations in August and the Commonwealth Games next April, and possibly the World Cup later in 2018, we have chosen a fairly long-term squad so we can look at selection from a consistent basis. We’ve set out to change the age profile because we have a lot of qualifying to do and these youngsters can gain experience.

“We will use all 25 players in the build-up to the next World Cup and we need to get youth into the squad. I sit on the U16 to U21 national selection panels as well in order to get some consistency. We want to grow our talent and if you look at world standards these days, then there is a predominance of youth,” Gordon said.

That does not mean experience is being thrown out the window though, and stalwarts of the South African side such as Nicolene Terblanche, Bernadette Coston, Sulette Damons, Ilse Davids and Shelley Jones (nee Russell) have all been included in the squad.

That applies to the men’s squad as well, with the likes of Rassie Pieterse, 34-year-old Julian Hykes, Jethro Eustice and Owen Mvimbi chosen alongside new cap Melrick Maddocks and 18-year-old Dayaan Cassiem.

There are nine members of the KZN Coastals team that won the recent IPT in the squad and national coach Fabian Gregory said it was the selectors’ intention that form be rewarded.

“KZN did exceptionally well to win IPT, playing well both as a group and with stand-out individual players. We wanted to send the correct message that IPT has not been watered down and we will reward form there. So Melrick is rewarded for being one of the top strikers there as is his team-mate Julian, who was the top goal-scorer for Southern Gauteng,” Gregory said.

The 43-year-old Gregory said he will cut the squad down from 21 to 18 for the World League Semi-Finals.

For both the men’s and women’s national squads, the next couple of years promise plenty of playing opportunities against the top nations in world hockey.

“Our world ranking being lower does not make things easier for us, but there is a total plan in place to rejuvenate our competitiveness. Not playing enough games is killing us due to a lack of sponsorship, but we have the talent, we just need to spend more time working together as a team,” Gordon said.

SA Womens Squad: Kirsty Adams (Boland), Stephanie Baxter (North-West), Kara Botes nee Stella (KZN Coastals), Nicole la Fleur (Western Province), Candice Manual (Western Province), Nicolene Terblance (Northerns Blues), Izelle Verster (Northerns Blues), Quanita Bobbs (Western Province), Bernadette Coston (Southern Gauteng), Sulette Damons (North-West), Ilse Davids (Western Province), (Lisa Deetlefs (Southern Gauteng), Lilian du Plessis (Southern Gauteng), Celia Evans (Northerns Blues), Tarryn Glasby (Western Province), Erin Hunter (KZN Coastals), Shelley Jones nee Russell (KZN Coastals), Marizen Marais (Northerns Blues), Jade Mayne (Western Province), Phumelela Mbande (Northerns Blues), Line Malan (Western Province), Jessica O’Connor (KZN Coastals), Carmen Smith (Southern Gauteng), Marelize van Tonder (Northerns Blues), Nicole Walraven (Free State).

SA Mens Squad: Rassie Pieterse (Southern Gauteng), Gowan Jones (KZN Coastals), Jethro Eustice (KZN Coastals), Robin Jones (KZN Coastals), Tyson Dlungwana (Southern Gauteng), Mohamed Mea (KZN Coastals), Jonty Robinson (KZN Coastals), Dan Sibbald (KZN Coastals), Reza Rosenburg (Southern Gauteng), Ryan Julius (Western Province), Clinton Panther (KZN Coastals), Owen Mvimbi (Southern Gauteng), Julian Hykes (Southern Gauteng), Ryan Crowe (Western Province), Nqobile Ntuli (KZN Coastals), Ignatius Malgraff  (Eastern Province), Dayaan Cassiem (Western Province), Richard Pautz (Northerns Blues), Tevin Kok (Northerns Blues), Melrick Maddocks (Southern Gauteng), Damien Kimfley (KZN Coastals).

https://www.sahockey.co.za/sa-teams/305-sa-men-s-and-womens-squads