Johannesburg - The banning of four players over their involvement in the match/spot-fixing scandal in last season’s RamSlam competition comes as a bitter blow to Cricket South Africa’s transformation initiatives with two of the players being premier role-models in the black community.
Thami Tsolekile, pictured, and Ethy Mbhalati were both veterans of the sport with careers stretching back 16 years in Tsolekile’s case and 13 for Mbhalati and comprising a combined 289 first class matches.
The biggest fish is Tsolekile, who at various times throughout his career courted controversy for his forthright views about the treatment of black African players and was one of the leaders of the protest last season that saw a group of players, who called themselves Black Cricketers in Unity, write a letter to Cricket SA outlining their concerns about the treatment of black players when it came to national selection.
The Highveld Lions chief executive Greg Fredericks on Monday refused to comment following Cricket SA’s announcement, other than to say he was “very disappointed.” Three of the players represented the franchise and played prominent roles in the team’s recent success.
“We haven’t been furnished with all the information during this process, so we must be given the chance to study Cricket SA’s report before commenting,” said Fredericks on Monday.
Tsolekile, Pumi Matshikwe and Jean Symes were all part of the Lions side that has, in recent seasons, won each of the country’s premier domestic trophies and - in the case of Symes and Tsolekile - were instrumental members of the team that so thrillingly made it to the final of Champions League T20 tournament in 2012.
The 35-year-old Tsolekile was among the most prominent black players of the last decade and was a tad unfortunate that the bulk of his career coincided with that of Mark Boucher, who was a mainstay in the Proteas side behind the stumps. Tsolekile played three Tests when Boucher was dropped from the national team in 2004, but under immense scrutiny in Tests against India and England, he failed to show his best form.
Nevertheless following Boucher’s unfortunate retirement in 2012, Tsolekile, who had once again produced consistently good performances domestically, was widely viewed as a certainty to start for South Africa. However that did not come to pass with AB de Villiers taking over as wicketkeeper/batsman.
Tsolekile was particularly angered by his non-selection for the Test team on the Australian tour in 2012, accusing the then selection panel of dishonesty.
He was a part of the leadership core in the Lions dressing room in the last few seasons, featuring as captain on a number of occasions and was certainly respected by all at the Lions until his involvement in the match-fixing scandal was made public.
Symes too, was one of the senior core of the group that won the RamSlam in 2013, playing all 11 matches in the Lions’ successful campaign that year. Though mainly regarded as a limited overs player, he was still motivated to break into the four-day side and some good performances for the Gauteng Strikers last season seemed to indicate he was returning to the form that made him such an integral part of the Lions set-up between 2011 and 2013.
Matshikwe was an unspectacular although steady right arm seamer, who ironically made his biggest impact after news of the match-fixing scandal broke, when he starred in the Momentum Cup final claiming three wickets in the Lions win over the Cape Cobras at Newlands.
Mbhalati had a long career with the Titans and Northerns cricket that culminated in the Northerns Cricket Union granting him a benefit year in 2013. Though there was talk at various stages of the 34- year-old challenging for higher honours, the best he could muster was some appearances for the SA A side.
Banned:
THAMI TSOLEKILE
Banned for 12 years
Age: 35
Test Three matches; Runs 47, Highest Score 22, Ave 9.40 Catches 6.
First Class 160 matches; Runs 5844, HS 150, Ave 30.43, Catches 499, Stumpings 35
List A 142 matches; Runs 1470, HS 68, Ave 21.30 Catches 186, Stumpings 23
T20s 80 matches, Runs 706, HS 58, Ave 21.39
Catches 49, Stumpings 14
JEAN SYMES
Banned for 7 years
Age: 29
FC 62 matches; Runs 3328, HS 193, Ave 34.67
Wickets 68, Best 6/61, Ave 37.66
List A 100 matches; Runs 2694, Best 170 , Ave 32.45
Wickets 60, Best 4/8, Ave 31.00
T20 64 matches; Runs 967, HS 58*, Ave 28.44
Wickets 18, Best 3/5
PUMI MATSHIKWE
Banned for 10 years, 3 suspended
Age: 32
FC 77 matches; Runs 389, HS 42*, Ave 8.45
Wickets 178, Best 6/17, Ave 30.01
List A 57 matches; Runs 41, Best 15, Ave 4.10
Wickets 49, Best 4/28, Ave 35.61
T20 24 matches; Runs 2, HS 2, Ave 1.00
Wickets 23, Best 4/17
ETHY MBHALATI
Banned for 10 years
Age: 34
FC 129 matches; Runs 471, HS 19, Ave 6.11
Wickets 364, Best 6/33, Ave 27.99
List A 129 matches; Runs 75, HS 20*, Ave 7.50
Wickets 150, Best 4/36, Ave 29.80
T20 92 matches; Runs 27, HS 8*, Ave 6.75
Wickets 80, Best 4/12
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