At the Cricket South Africa’s SJN hearings, the former national selector Hussein Manack said that the team wanted to drop Rabada ahead of the third Test against England at the Wanderers in Johannesburg in the 2015-16 home season.
Manack mentioned that he had attended the practice session a day before the Test match, and there was discussion on going ahead with either Kyle Abbott or Hardus Viljoen.
Moreover, another call was taken that Rabada needed to be dropped. Manack questioned the decision. Rabada, who had made his international debut in 2015, took just six wickets from four Test matches, including three Test matches on rank turners in India. But Rabada had shown pedigree and was very impressive for the Lions.
“I asked on what basis. Rabada was 20 years old, and he hadn’t established himself as a great player, but having seen him at the Lions, where he was coming through, I had seen a lot of him. He had a good enough reputation.
There was a cricketing explanation that maybe the ball wasn’t coming out of his hand right. Charl Langeveldt’s view was that he was comfortable and everybody on the selection panel was unanimous that Rabada had to play. I said our decision is that Rabada has to play,”
Manack said.
However, de Villiers has said that he had nothing to do with any such call. He never wanted Rabada to be dropped from any side at any point of point.
“I have never wanted KG dropped from any team at any time. The idea is ridiculous. He is one of the finest bowlers in world cricket,”
AB de Villiers was quoted saying to ESPNcricinfo.
Manack also spoke at length about Khaya Zondo’s case. The Durban-born batsman was the reserver batsman during South Africa’s tour of 2015. With David Miller struggling against spin in the ODI series, the selectors wanted to give Zondo ago.
However, Miller continued to play in each of the five ODIs, including the series decider despite having a poor run throughout the series.
De Villiers said that all he wanted was the best for the team and nothing else. He always put the team’s interest first.
“It is obviously difficult to pick apart selection discussions many years later, and recollections will vary. However, I can unequivocally state that my input to such discussions was always motivated only by what I considered to be best for the team, and nothing else,”
de Villiers added while talking about Zondo’s case.
Manack felt he had not done his job and let Zondo down, who eventually made his ODI debut almost two and a half years later. The former selector mentioned it was the same captain involved on both occasions, and both players involved were players of ‘colour’. He felt it was ‘racially motivated, and there have been quite a few instances of captains trying to protect their friends and buddies.
