Sometimes gambling pays off. But followers of cricket are generally doubtful whether the one played by Glen Turner would prove any good for New Zealand team! The New Zealand selectors just announced the squad for upcoming Twenty-20 World Championship to be held in England and the list includes the name of Jacob Oram. When this high voltage New Zealand player did not take part in the crucial Test series against India, everybody thought that it must be the cricketer’s ploy for saving himself for upcoming Indian Premier League. But he soon proved the skeptics wrong by declaring that he is not going to South Africa to play in IPL.

One gives miss to cash rich IPL only when one feels the terrorists are too close to you (which Oram definitely felt at one point of time when there were no talks of IPL’s traveling off-shores) and when you don’t consider yourself fit enough for appearing in a high profile tournament. Oram’s decision of staying away from Indian Premier League is a clear indication of the fact that the injury-prone Kiwi has not recovered well. In this situation, NZ selectors’ decision of including him in the first 15 on the hope that he would be fit by the time tournament kicks off is no better than gambling. But we have to wait for two more months to see whether Glen Turner headed selection team is a lucky gambler or not.

While NZ selectors are clearly putting high premium on experience, their South African counterparts are more reliant on the young Turks. The SA team for the upcoming world championship of shortest format of cricket was unveiled amidst nice surprises from the selectors. Two rising stars - Roelof van der Merwe and Wayne Parnell are most likely to don the Proteas cap for the upcoming world championship scheduled for June. These two youngsters have been included in South Africa’s probable 30-member list which will be slimmer by 15 members by next month. For 19-year-old Parnell, the selection is a great achievement as with this he becomes the youngest South African cricketer to bag a central contract.

 

The NZ Squad: Daniel Vettori (Captain), Neil Broom, Ian Butler, Brendon Diamanti, James Franklin, Martin Guptill, Brendon McCullum, Nathan McCullum, Peter McGlashan, Kyle Mills, Iain O’Brien, Jacob Oram, Jesse Ryder, Scott Styris, Ross Taylor.

 

 

The South African Squad: Graeme Smith (Capt.), Yusuf Abdulla, Hashim Amla, Gulam Bodi, Loots Bosman, Johan Botha, Mark Boucher, Henry Davids, AB de Villiers, CJ de Villiers, Friedel de Wet, JP Duminy, Herschelle Gibbs, Arno Jacobs, Jacques Kallis, Heino Kuhn, Johann Louw, Albie Morkel, Morne Morkel, Makhaya Ntini, Justin Ontong, Wayne Parnell, Alviro Petersen, Robin Peterson, Ashwell Prince, Daryn Smit, Dale Steyn, Lonwabo Tsotsobe, Roelof van der Merwe, Vaughn van Jaarsveld.

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