Cape Town - Official transformation targets in all South African national cricket teams will be implemented following a board meeting of Cricket South Africa (CSA).
CSA president and chairman of the board Chris Nenzani announced in a statement on Tuesday that the board of directors have approved “in principle the decision to introduce targets for all the national teams”.
What exactly those targets will be is still under consideration, with the cricket controlling body stating that a few committees will research and determine the outcome.
“In the past we had never set targets in our national teams, but with changing circumstances, we feel it is essential to move with the times,” Nenzani said on Tuesday.
“The precise targets will depend on work to be undertaken by relevant committees to determine what is realistic and sustainable. This will be announced in due course. We will aim to achieve our targets over the course of the year and not on a match-by-match basis.”
That last line suggests that the issue of transformation will be approached in a holistic manner, with clear targets in place, which will ensure that there is a greater simplicity and efficiency in this regard.
Up to now, there has been a rumoured target of four players of colour in the South African teams, but that has never been confirmed or set in stone by Cricket South Africa.
At times, the current policy has led to friction and caused controversy between certain quarters of the cricketing fraternity who have labelled black players as “quotas” and others who feel transformation is imperative to ensure the continued growth and excellence of cricket in all sectors of South African society.
Also, achieving targets “over the course of the year” instead of a strict match-by-match basis will prevent awkward scenarios that have occurred in domestic cricket, where a black player may be injured in the warm-up and then another black player is taken from the crowd or local club to make up the numbers.
The controversy around Vernon Philander’s selection for the Cricket World Cup semi-final against New Zealand last year may also be avoided in future.
Even though Philander was fit to play and the selectors were justified in choosing him ahead of Kyle Abbott, it still provided ammunition to those opposed to transformation to say that Philander was picked for transformation reasons as he was under an injury cloud in the build-up to the match.
Having a transparent transformation policy where everybody knows where they stand is a positive move from Cricket SA, as there should never be a feeling of secrecy or inhibition when it comes to providing equal opportunities for all players.
The likes of Makhaya Ntini, Ashwell Prince, Hashim Amla, Kagiso Rabada and countless others have excelled over the years when they were provided with a fair chance to establish themselves in the Proteas set-up, and Cricket SA will hope to produce many more top cricketers from all corners of the country.
Meanwhile, the evaluation of the domestic structures are continuing, with the CSA board having received presentations on that front and about the repositioning of the T20 franchise competition.
Any possible changes will only be implemented for the 2017/18 season and not the one starting in a few months. A “global” T20 tournament in South Africa - ostensibly on the lines of the IPL and others in Australia and West Indies, which attract top talents from around the world - has been mooted.
CSA are hoping to have eight teams in the competition that lasts between four and six weeks, and which could be played between November and December, with a final on the Day of Reconciliation on the 16th.
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