The Cost of Transformation in SA Cricket

South African cricket always seems to be part of some controversy. At the moment there are rumours going around that Norman Arndse’s job is on the line. There is talk that a vote of no confidence will be given against him tomorrow. The SA team manager and Vice president of CSA has flown back for an emergency meeting to be held tomorrow. 

Arendse vetoed the squad sent to Bangladesh 3 times before Majola stamped his approval on the same squad. The government has come out and backed Arendse indicating that there should be more black players in the squad. Some would say that is fair enough there are only 4 out of 14 BUT what is the point of taking 6 players of colour when only 3 are going to play? Yes there is exposure to the international arena but surely it is better to stay behind and participate in the local league keeping match fit?
 
The only player that was unlucky to be left out was Monde Zondeki, he had a fantastic season and is really pushing for a place in the national side. He is developing and maturing as a fast bowler and should really have been picked and possibly been chosen before Ntini. However that said SA would then had 3 inexperienced youngsters opening the attack. Zondeki wouldn’t be able to replace Steyn who is now the second best bowler in the world nor Morkel who is not only developing in to a great bowler but also as an all-rounder.
  
What is sad to see if the governments point of view, the whole article can be accessed here. These are chilling extracts from Komphela who chairs the Ministry of Sport and Recreation’s Portfolio Committee. Whilst  commenting on the criticism received by Arendse he said it is “an attack on transformation in cricket”.

He also went on to say: “We must build this country through unity and through sport, we have all seen how united this country becomes as soon as one national team wins. All of us, even the president (Thabo Mbeki), supported the Springboks when they won the World Cup. People asked me ‘why’ and I said ‘they might be white, probably by accident, but they are South Africans, it doesn’t make them lesser South Africans.’
 
“But our agenda is to tell them to transform and that is not going to stop. We are unapologetic about that because the truth is very simple: we all need to feel like we have a place in the national team.”

“We are committed to having a free and fair South Africa without fear – we don’t want to create a Kenya or a Zimbabwe here – but there is a section of the community that pushes us to the limit and tries to make us regret what Nelson Mandela has done for this country, and we don’t want to regret that,” said Komphela.

“We are pleading with them not to push us that far. People say sport should not be political. Sport has always been political in South Africa, it has been used as a guillotine for black people. Now we want sport to unite people and not be what it was before.”

It will be an interesting day tomorrow, to see whether Arendse can survive the chop after appealing to the government. At the end of the day the side is one that is becoming more racially balanced but is at the moment built on merit. Every player deserves to be there, regardless of colour and there is no doubt the JP Duminy and Zondeki will soon stake their places in the team.

Cricket South Africa Apologises to South Africa

There are times that we all have to eat our words and today will be one of those where I am quite happy to eat my words posted here. Cricket South Africa (CSA) has indeed taken a bold step, a step that I don’t think has been taken by sports administrators before. They have issued a public apology for the embarressing situation that occurred last week and was followed here.

I am proud that they have issued a statement apologising how things were handled. It is a mature approach not seen in other disciplines and must be commended. I will in the next few days write to cricket South africa asking for a breakdown of the transformation policies, all of which will be recorded on this website.

Cricket is obviously close to my heart as it is for many readers of my website and a transparent administration is essential for the public to have faith in the system.

The letter is below and can be found here for authenticity!!!!

Cricket is a national treasure, and all who participate in the organisation of cricket, at all levels, are entitled to free and equal access to it. In this regard, Cricket South Africa (CSA) plays a critical role in ensuring that those of our people who were previously (and unjustly) denied access to the sport, must be given every possible opportunity to participate in, and have access to, it.

Over the past week or so, cricket has been thrown into turmoil over the issue of the transformation of cricket, and in particular the selection of the national side to tour Bangladesh.

Cricket South Africa, the custodians of the sport in the country, must take full responsibility for not handling the issue in a manner that preserves the integrity and reputation of the sport. In this regard, the President and the CEO of Cricket South Africa wish to express their deep and sincere regret at the manner in which the issue leading up to the selection of the team to tour Bangladesh, has been handled. In fact, an apology to the entire nation is warranted.

Accordingly, we issue our sincerest apology to the entire nation and all its peoples for the manner in which the matter had been handled. We accept responsibility for what happened, and wish to commit ourselves to ensuring that it will never happen again.
In doing so, we reaffirm our commitment to the transformation policies of Cricket South Africa which is aimed at ensuring that the imbalances of the past are redressed as soon as possible. In this regard, we wish to record that CSA’s Transformation Review Committee is in the process of addressing these issues in a comprehensive way involving all stakeholders in the game, and have been doing so since December 2007.

We lastly wish to publicly acknowledge that mistakes were made in the process of the selection of the team, and that any finger pointing is not going to assist in restoring any damage or harm that may have been caused to the game of cricket over the recent days.

Accordingly, the President and the CEO commit to working together within the legal and constitutional structures of Cricket South Africa with a common goal and purpose, with a view towards ensuring the restoration of the good name and reputation of Cricket South Africa, and that the game is administered for the benefit of all.

Lastly, we wish to express our deep gratitude to the Minister of Sport, his Deputy, and members of the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Sport for facilitating a process which will involve CSA in the near future considering a number of issues raised by the Minister, and which also resulted in making this media release possible.

NORMAN ARENDSE: PRESIDENT
GERALD MAJOLA: CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER:
CRICKET SOUTH AFRICA

Apologies links will be added in asap

SA Cricket in Crisis Arendse vs Arthur

Just when South African cricket looked like it was recovering from the many set backs from last year, another bombshell has hit. This time there will be casualties. There is unlikely to be any final warnings, something has to give.

Norman Arendse is the president of Cricket South Africa and he refused to approve the selectors decision over the 14 man squad for the tour to Bangladesh. “ If two of the players selected for Bangladesh are not fit and will undergo fitness tests on Monday, why don’t we wait until Monday before we announce the squad?” Arendse said, referring to Neil McKenzie and Andre Nel. This is a fair and valid point put across by the president. However he went on to state: “My role is to ensure that the CSA transformation policy is complied with.” This is where it all got messy.

Mickey Arthur’s reply to the above was: “As a coach and a selector I share Norman’s determination to push the transformation agenda but, at the same time, I want to be able to look every player in the eye and tell him: I believe you’re the best player for this position.” One wonders which team Mickey Arthur has been coaching as the team that he is in charge of regularly has players that the majority of SA will say are not the best players in that position. This statement can easily be backed up by statistics as can be seen here.

As the day progressed it came to light that Arendse had laid charges against Arthur accusing him of being “abusive and disrespectful” and “cocking a snook at his employers’ policy of (racial) transformation.” A bit later on in the day Arthur laid a counter-charge of “disrespectful and abusive behaviour” against Arendse, stating “I have no problem with transformation and I am very willing to work for transformation, however, seven players of colour in a squad of 14 is a target and not a policy.” To top off what is more than likely his last roll of the dice Arthur stated “We have sent the same squad to him (Arendse) for approval, the ball is now in his court.”

If his foot was in the proverbial grave, he certainly wasn’t scared of going 6 foot under when he indicated “Yes, there is animosity between us. I told him he was power-crazy and egotistical but I never swore at him. I can say now that he regularly sends back teams” stated Arthur which might have been to confirm the allegations that Arendse was responsible for the dropping of Kallis and Hall in the Twenty20 tournament mentioned here.

There are few people that have taken of the administration and won. Arthur has jumped on that boat and if any players want to be on board, they must be prepared for the worst, there is no fairy tale ending where the administration backs down and the good guys win.

The real solution would have been to take a side focused on transformation to Bangladesh and a more experienced side to India. It might not be the ideal solution but it would have saved Arthur the DCM (Don’t Come Monday) letter which might be in the post already.