Lorgat not the man for Cricket SA job

AFP

Haroon Lorgat has previously served Cricket South Africa and the International Cricket Council.

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Johannesburg – The first whispers of Haroon Lorgat being Cricket SA’s next chief executive started last year, in fact, just weeks after Jacques Faul took up the position as a temporary replacement for Gerald Majola.

My first thoughts were: “Yup typical, all the old folks looking after themselves again.”

Back then I still had some faith in Cricket SA sticking close to Judge Chris Nicholson’s recommendations for a stronger independent voice on CSA’s new Board of Directors. That faith began to dissipate as it became clear that a large sector of administrators who turned a blind eye as Majola played dictator with CSA, would still hang on to their positions even as CSA sought to “change”.

Now it is reported that Lorgat is the front-runner for the position, he’s been the front-runner for almost a year, even before the “new” Board were elected or even identified, because he’s someone they’re all comfortable with. The fact that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) want to bully CSA into changing their minds about possibly appointing Lorgat as its chief executive, should not hide the fact that Lorgat is the wrong person for the job.

Lorgat has had his time in sports administration as far as I’m concerned. He worked in Cricket SA before as Board Treasurer and was the Chairman of National Selectors and then more famously – and where he pissed off the BCCI – as chief executive of the ICC.

I wrote last October, when Lorgat’s name was being mentioned with increasing regularity in CSA circles, that whoever became the organisation’s next chief executive had to be someone “NOT attached to CSA’s previous administration, i.e. prior to 2012, but rather someone with fresh ideas, a new outlook and, vitally, integrity.”

What has concerned me about the so-called changes that have taken place within CSA’s administration is just how many people still serve on that Board who were attached to CSA’s administration before 2012 – and now, if Lorgat is appointed, they want to add another.

If CSA want a look at how someone new, previously unattached to the organisation, can work to make it better, they don’t have to go far. Faul, who had his farewell function last week following almost a year as the “stand-in” chief executive was a dynamic leader – honest almost to a fault – with a vision for the future and one who was able to attract sponsors and make appointments in key areas that had the organisation looking outward.

The BCCI is wrong to dictate to CSA about who it should appoint in its administration – but then the BCCI have been manipulating cricket for a while now. But Cricket CSA would also be wrong to appoint Lorgat as its chief executive. – The Star