It finally had to happen - an in form "player of colour (POC)" (the official term from the department of sports, honest) is selected ahead of another in form player of colour, one is upset and not being selected, the other is upset in being selected as a quota player, and both decide not to accept selection!
The problem with quotas, especially when they are set in stone, is that they become stupidly rigid. I remember, when I was part of the Western Province Badminton Association executive, we had an interesting problem in selecting a junior team - the requirement was that each team needed to have 2 POCs (one boy, one girl). There were two junior teams, and 3 girls who would be classified as POCs. But, all three girls were selected, on merit, to the A team, and there were no girls, who could be part of the B team, and were classified as a POC. I don't remember how it was resolved - but this is a similar situation.
The fact is, Langeveld is good enough to be part of the Proteas. And so in Nel. And on Zondeki's (the replacement) recent form in the domestic series - he should also be there on merit - but he will always be regarded as the quota player. That is sad, and just plain wrong.
Cricket SA could have handled this a lot better - and more importantly, could have picked a 15 man squad instead of a 14 man squad.
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