Durban - In a new twist to the cricket saga that has pitted a Pietermaritzburg father against his son’s school, a former pupil is also claiming he was racially discriminated against and dropped from the school team without reason.
Kalin Nundlall, who matriculated from St Charles College in Pietermaritzburg last year, has claimed in court papers that his attorney wrote to the school in June last year but received no reply.
In his affidavit, which supports Pranesh Indrajith, the father who is suing the school for discriminating against his son, Pavishkar, by dropping him as captain of the first cricket team, Nundlall said he played cricket when he was in Grades 10 and 11.
In Grade 11, he claims, he was dropped from the first team for no reason and asked to play in the second. “For two years in a row I was selected for the Under-17 provincial team, and I represented the Under-19 provincial team in a Cricket South Africa three-day game,” he said.
He said he was the only one of the boys selected who was not given honours.
“This is clearly discrimination against an Indian Hindu cricket player.”
His affidavit was filed last week in the Pietermaritzburg High Court with the replying papers of Indrajith senior.
This followed the school having responded to Indrajith’s application by saying Pavishkar was dropped because of a drop in form and he had scored only 17 runs in seven matches.
In his latest affidavit, Indrajith denied his son had dropped in form. He also rejected the cricket scores stated by the school.
The father said when his son was dropped, in mid-January, the season had not opened and no competitive first team cricket matches were played.
The only match played around December-January was against Voortrekker School and the boy “won for the team as captain”.
No grounds existed for dropping Pavishkar, he said, let alone grounds of “performance, leadership skills and the support of teammates”.
Indrajith referred to e-mails from the then cricket coach, Bruce Roberts, who was dismissed when he got involved in the matter.
Indrajith said an e-mail from Roberts to the school on January 28 indicated he was not happy with the selection procedure implemented by the school.
Indrajith said the new captain was appointed arbitrarily.
“By the same token, it would mean Pavishkar was dropped from the team with no grounds established or considered for doing so.”
The Mercury