Ntini given a wake-up call

A quiet World Cup cost Makhaya Ntini his place against England © Getty Images

A glance at the South African team-sheet first thing in the morning was enough to remove any lingering cobwebs of sleep. Makhaya Ntini, with 83 wickets in his last 50 one-day games, wasn't in the 12, with Justin Kemp and Charl Langeveldt included after sitting out the defeat to New Zealand. Robin Peterson, who bowled a couple of overs of chinaman in that game, was left to carry the drinks.

Given Ntini's poor run of form at this World Cup, it could hardly be called a shock exclusion, but after all the booze-and-late-nights stories that have swirled around the team over the past few days, it was no surprise that it gave life to plenty of speculation. With a 48-hour 'calm-down' rule in place, had Ntini paid the price for one nocturnal jaunt too many?

Gordon Templeton, the media manager, emphasised that it was certainly not the case. "It was a tactical decision," he said. "He hasn't performed as expected so far." The numbers certainly bear that out, with just six wickets at 48.83 from seven matches. He's also gone at 4.65 runs an over, with only one spell - 2 for 26 against Sri Lanka in Guyana - providing a glimpse of the damage that he can do when on top of his game.

Given the painful realities of the transformation process in South Africa, dropping Ntini would have been an incredibly tough decision. Apart from leading the line with the ball, he's South Africa's most popular cricketer by far, an icon to millions of young kids. He's also no binge-drinker, and had nothing to do with the alleged booze-up that caused such consternation amongst fans in Grenada.

At a cricketing level too, Ntini might have felt hard done by. After games on slow pitches in Guyana and Grenada, here was a surface perfect for his short-of-length bowling. On pitches such as this, he can be almost unplayable. Australia (6 for 22 at Cape Town last March) and Pakistan (5 for 21 at Mohali in October's Champions Trophy) would certainly attest to that.

In the short-term though, dropping him might be the best way to bring the zest back. A fiercely proud man, he has usually responded to adversity with some of his finest performances. On his return after being falsely accused of rape in 2000, he wrecked New Zealand at Goodyear Park in Bloemfontein with 6 for 66. And famously, he responded to public criticism from Ray Jennings after the Guyana Test of 2005 to scalp 13 for 132 at the Queens Park Oval in Trinidad.

If form alone was the criteria though, Kemp's inclusion makes no sense whatsoever. A slow-medium liability with the ball, he has just 25 runs [58 balls] from his four innings in the competition. And with Andrew Hall in the side, South Africa bat all the way down to No.8.