DURBAN, Jan 3: United Cricket Board president Percy Sonn’s decision to drop a white player in favour of a coloured young prospect dominated front and editorial pages in South Africa’s newspapers Thursday.

“Cricket war at fever pitch,” was the lead headline on the Pretoria News’ front page. “We can forget winning next year’s cricket World Cup — on South African soil — if the UCB continues interfering in the game as it has this week,” its report began.

Durban daily the Mercury also carried a front page report, and a comment piece on its editorial page by the Independent Group’s tour correspondent, Patrick Compton.

The piece was headlined “It’s not easy to win both ways”, and began with, “The brutal truth about the Justin Ontong selection controversy is that the goals of transformation and the goals of maintaining a winning national cricket team are not always compatible.

“There is little doubt that part of the reason for South Africa’s poor showing in Australia is that the players feel that they are being mishandled, misunderstood and under appreciated by South Africa’s politically-minded administrators...

“There have been public noises from the UCB that winning against the world champions is important, but there are others who say this is a smokescreen. That the team has been given the strong impression that, ultimately, transformation is more important than winning.”

Independent Group papers also published a story in which sports minister Ngconde Balfour’s spokesman, Graham Abrahams, was quoted as saying, “If this was any other player but a black player, would we have had this media frenzy?”

Former Test batsman Graeme Pollock, a national selector and South Africa’s official “cricketer of the century”, also took issue with Sonn’s decision.

“I think Justin has good cricketing ability and that he has a future, but that doesn’t mean that picking him for the Test team right now is the correct decision,” Pollock was quoted as saying in the Independent Group papers.

Former Test off-spinner Pat Symcox was also critical of Sonn’s actions.

“We can’t have our cake and eat it,” the Independent Group quoted Symcox as saying. “We have to decide whether we want to be in line with the UCB’s goals of being the best team in the world, winning World Cups, and pleasing spectators, supporters, sponsors and all the role-players.

A front page report in the Cape Times included a quote from former left-arm spinner Omar Henry: “I’m not sure of the exact facts coming out of Australia.

“But I am very disappointed in the people in this country who are meant to be taking cricket forward — it has taken a presidential veto to give Justin his chance.”

Meanwhile, Sonn defended Thursday his decision to force the selectors to include Ontong.

“South African cricket is not isolated from South African society and life,” Sonn told a local radio station. “South African society has been a broken society and we need to make a contribution towards a better society.”

Sonn found an ally in Australian Prime Minister John Howard.

In Sydney to watch the second day of the final Test, Howard told reporters he supported South African initiatives to encourage multi-racial representation.

“I think the aim of having a team that is reflective of a society is a very laudable aim,” Howard said. “I’m not going to start commenting either way on the basis on which overseas teams that compete against Australia are selected.

Howard’s view was not shared by leading commentators. Ontong, 21, has never played Test cricket before and most commentators said it was unfair to throw him into such a big match against the world’s top side.

“South African cricket needs some coloured cricket heroes or it will become a white irrelevance. But it is an awful lot to put on the plate of a 21-year-old in his first match,” Peter Roebuck wrote in the Sydney Morning Herald.

Mike Coward in the Australian adopted a similar approach.

“Such a decision may have been justifiable against one of the game’s minnows, but to fast-track Ontong against Australia seems foolhardy in the extreme and it is hoped such promotion does not adversely affect his development as a man and a cricketer, he wrote.”

Opening batsman Herschelle Gibbs was the only coloured player originally chosen for the final Test but Sonn intervened to force the selectors to play Ontong instead of the selectors preferred choice Rudolph.—Reuters