LEFT ARM OVER
NEIL MANTHORP: Are Proteas taking whips to a gunfight with spin kings?
There’s a classic scene in the film Raiders of the Lost Ark where Indiana Jones is confronted by a whip-wielding bad guy in black robes who clearly means no good. He cracks his whip in an ominous display of malicious intent designed to intimidate. Indiana Jones watches for a while, motionless, and then pulls out a small handgun and shoots "whip man". It’s a little like SA’s approach in taking spinners to Sri Lanka. There has always been impressive intent — they put on an impressive display of intent before the first ball is bowled — but they have yet to make a meaningful impression in five Test tours to the island. SA’s selectors have always picked two specialist spinners, even for that first tour in 1993. Pat Symcox was persuaded out of semi-retirement and Clive Eksteen chosen to partner him. It came as a huge surprise, apparently even to captain Kepler Wessels, when both made the starting XI for the first Test in Galle. Symcox was a trusted veteran (at least at first-class level) ...
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