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SA make extensive changes

The South African cricket selectors made extensive changes to their one-day international squad on Thursday ahead of a three-match series against World Cup champions Australia.

Six players who were part of the squad that lost the one-day series in India and were beaten by Pakistan in the final of the tournament in Sharjah were left out. Only one, fast bowler Henry Williams, was left out because of injury.

Dropped were batsman Dale Benkenstein, allrounders Derek Crookes and Pieter Strydom and fast bowlers Steve Elworthy and Charl Willoughby.

Fourteen players were picked for the three matches against Australia -- in Durban on Wednesday, Cape Town on April 14 and Johannesburg on April 16.

The matches were arranged as a challenge series after the two sides tied in a dramatic 1999 World Cup semi-final in Birmingham, England.

There will be three further matches in an indoor stadium in Melbourne, Australia, in August.

Recalled were batsman Jonty Rhodes, who was unavailable for the tour of India and Sharjah because his wife was having their first child, new ball bowler Roger Telemachus and allrounder Andrew Hall.

Hall, who played in one international against West Indies in 1998/99, was a prolific scorer as an opening batsman for Gauteng province during the recent domestic season and could stand in for regular opener Gary Kirsten, who is having treatment for a torn disc in his lower spine which forced him to miss the Sharjah final last Friday.

The squad: Hansie Cronje (capt), Shaun Pollock (vice-captain), Gary Kirsten, Herschelle Gibbs, Jacques Kallis, Neil McKenzie, Jonty Rhodes, Lance Klusener, Mark Boucher, Nicky Boje, Mornantau Hayward, Roger Telemachus, Makhaya Ntini and Andrew Hall.