A firestorm is brewing in South African cricket. And it could burn franchises far worse than the Protea Fire campaign that caught alight during the World Cup.
The issue of increasing quotas at franchise level has been bubbling for the past few years.
Players of colour surplus to requirements in some cities have become indispensable in other areas, and now the numbers are set to increase – if administrators have their way.
There are those armchair experts who brushed off the Proteas’ painful exit from the World Cup on Tuesday because the team wasn’t “fully representational”.
They are in the same boat as those who say the Springboks simply must have five players of colour in the World Cup team – or else.
These lofty targets are all well and dandy, but they fail to deal with the biggest obstacle in the pursuit of a “balanced rainbow team” at the highest level.
For a start, there are not enough black cricketers of quality coming through the system.
Sure, those like Temba Bavuma, Khaya Zondo and Mthokozisi Shezi have grown in the past few years to become vital cogs in their franchises, real leaders even.
But the inconvenient truth is that such players are few and far between.
And they would agree that, with seasons upon seasons under their belts, they are playing their best cricket – a far cry from the tearful start they made in franchise cricket when they wondered if they were merely political pawns being fed to the dogs.
Zondo, for example, still averages around 30 in first-class cricket but, in reality, he has averaged more than 40 in the past two seasons.
He has grown immeasurably as a cricketer and as a man, but the damage to his numbers was done when he was plucked straight out of school and shoved into franchise cricket as a means to appease the powers-that-be who demanded representation – at whatever cost.
That cost, sadly, is the rash of cricketers who fall out of love with the game, disillusioned at being the loner in the team, the classic quota, there to make up the numbers.
That is a problem with a system that still looks for results without laying foundations. There are no real winners, and the biggest losers are the individuals.
They didn’t go back to amateur cricket or to club cricket to rediscover their passion. They simply left the game.
Now the new batch of losers are those like Vaughn van Jaarsveld and Heino Kuhn, players who are former internationals, but who can’t buy a game due to demographic demands, even in their batting prime.
Ultimately, South African cricket is the loser, and those that say it’s unfortunate but justified that white players miss out now, because black cricketers missed out in the dark days, have it twisted. Two wrongs have never made a right. An eye for an eye leaves a nation blind; and our game all the poorer, too.
Cricket South Africa need to address this, by ensuring that all players who go into franchise cricket, regardless of the circumstance, are ready. Lest we conveniently forget, franchise cricket is not a finishing school, but a platform for seasoned players to press for national colours.
And, if the groundwork has been done at the levels below, there shouldn’t be a need for quotas. It has to be a playing field, like any other profession ought to be. Then franchise cricket would be flooded with Theunis de Bruyns, Aiden Markrams, Andile Phehlukwayos and Diego Rosiers, each one there on merit.
In this day and age, no one should be jumping the queue. Because, as we have depressingly seen in key leadership posts, placing ill-equipped pals in high-profile positions is a one-way ticket to K*k Boulevard.
There are simply no winners. And CSA’s ultimate goal is to produce a bunch of winners, after all.
l The Sunday Itch is taking a break as Lungani Zama will be on extended leave