Cricket South Africa's transformation charter calls for the meeting of race targets to be measured over time rather than in a single match. That only adds to the intrigue of why the board apparently forced a change in the World Cup team for the semifinal against New Zealand in Auckland last month.Sources have confirmed to The Times that Vernon Philander, who missed four of the seven games SA played before the semi because of a hamstring injury, was selected ahead of Kyle Abbott - the team's leading bowler in the tournament in terms of average, economy rate and strike rate - on the board's orders.Philander's inclusion meant SA fielded four players of colour in the match, thus meeting the unofficial quota. But they did not need to.CSA transformation committee member Willie Basson said: "The transformation charter says team composition targets should be measured over a period of time - a season, for instance - rather than on a match-by-match basis."If you go match-by-match you put the team under severe stress."In the semifinal, Philander conceded 14 runs in his first over, but finished with the best economy rate of all SA's seam bowlers.But this was largely due to captain AB de Villiers's protective approach to bowling changes and Philander left the field once he had finished bowling.The cost to SA of nursing an unfit, rusty bowler through something as important as a World Cup semifinal cannot be measured.Philander has proved himself a peerless Test bowler, but at Eden Park on March 24 he was reduced to a quota player.The Times understands that the XI that was first picked for the match was unchanged from the side that dominated Sri Lanka in the quarterfinals. But it included just three players of colour.So SA had to choose between including Farhaan Behardien, who had batted just twice in his four matches in the tournament; Wayne Parnell, who went for 85 runs in nine overs in his only previous match against India; Aaron Phangiso, who had spent the entire event on the bench, and Philander.Exactly who forced Abbott out of the team remains unclear.Mike Horn, who served as a consultant to SA in the World Cup, told Eyewitness News: "We're not going into any politics but it had a role to play."He said that the decision not to pick Abbott meant "a little bit of energy was taken away from the quarterfinals, where the right team played".He said he had to tell the team to "make the difference with less but give more".Asked for comment, CSA transformation committee chairman Norman Arendse referred to earlier reports in which he denied claims of board interference.CSA transformation manager Max Jordaan would not answer the questions put to him...