To borrow a line from president Jacob Zuma – Cricket South Africa have (some) good stories to tell. They’ve just chosen a terrible time to tell them.
News that Cricket South Africa have got their affiliates and franchises to align their respective administrative structures (through the appointment of independent directors) in order to mimic that of CSA is an excellent achievement. Getting those affiliates and franchises to agree to practice greater fiscal discipline – and to ensure they break even – indicates an organisation with an eye on the future and attempting to achieve a level of maturity with which sports administration in this country is seldom associated.
Cricket SA are going to announce a profit – A PROFIT – at their next Annual General Meeting. They were projecting a R106-million loss for this financial year, and now they’re preparing to announce a profit. That is startling. What good news.
However, no-one will care as much as CSA had hoped they would. Cricket SA, through chief executive Haroon Lorgat, announced these good stories in an effort to divert attention away from what has been a bad few weeks on the news front.
It took three weeks for CSA to own up to the fact that at the heart of the decision to select Vernon Philander for the World Cup semi-final over Kyle Abbott was the need to fulfil a racial quota (or as Lorgat somewhat rudely insisted on Tuesday – a target) in the South African team.
No-one has disputed Philander’s worth as an international player as Lorgat seemed to believe on Tuesday. However what was plainly apparent to anyone watching the World Cup was that Abbott was in much better form than Philander.
Philander had bowled just eight overs competitively in a month – his right hamstring was a problem. A merit selection – as Lorgat insists every selection is for the national team – would have meant continuing with Abbott ahead of Philander.
Lorgat (and by extension CSA’s Board) erred in insisting that Abbott sit out that semi-final. Thusfar the players have owned up to not taking their chances – and there were plenty – in that match.
Mike Horn has owned up to not preparing the team well enough mentally.
It’s time Lorgat did the same. The decision to play Philander was NOT the reason South Africa lost that match. In as close an encounter as that semi-final, there were a number of reasons; the rain at a crucial time of the SA’s innings, poor execution with the ball, missed run outs and that dropped catch.
But, given that one player was clearly in better form and with Lorgat insisting the player not in form play, he made a mistake. Own up to it. - The Star