Ken Borland

Omphile Ramela, the former president of the players’ union who was last month removed as a director of the Cricket South Africa Interim Board, has lodged an application in the High Court challenging his removal based on the alleged rude conduct of the board and an accusation that they have erred in terms of procedure.

The board resolved on December 15 to remove Ramela for being “derelict in performing his functions as a director” and engaging in “destructive practices”, related to his alleged refusal to accept majority decisions and subsequent leaks of board discussions to the media. Ramela was given the opportunity to put his case before the board, but failed to attend the meeting.

Ramela then announced on Tuesday evening on social media that he will challenge his dismissal in court.

“I have lodged an application against CSA with the High Court. While the application deals with my removal, the premise of this application speaks to the conduct of this board as far [sic] the principle of law and order is concerned. … Given that my concerns speak to the principle of its conduct in matters of law and procedure, the court is the best place that can ventilate this matter and see it to its logical conclusion.

“The directors of this board serve in leadership structures of society. If its conduct is questionable in law and procedure then we as a country and the game of cricket have a much bigger problem. My major concern is the game. I could have easily walked away from this, but I think I’ve got a responsibility as someone who’s been in the game to stand for the truth,” Ramela posted on Twitter.

Ramela went on to say that he will demonstrate at the High Court that the CSA interim board have not acted with the interests of the game at heart, especially in terms of transformation.

“The decisions I’m contesting speaks to the motive of this conduct. This board has not done anything to advance the game and enhance transformation on and off the field of play. Instead it has done the total opposite to a point of regressing any transformation gains and governance. This then begs the question, whose interest are they serving?

“Hopefully this court process will help pierce that veil and reveal the source of our problems in cricket. The game has served me as a player and it has created opportunities for me. So if there is a case I can make that the interests of the game are not being protected at the moment I will put that out there. I believe that this application to the High Court will demonstrate that,” Ramela said.

The interim board issued a statement on Wednesday saying Ramela’s application is without substance and they will oppose it in court.

The previously suspended Omphile Ramela was officially removed as a director of the interim board of Cricket South Africa on Tuesday, the organisation announced in a statement.

Ramela is the previous president of the South African Cricketers Association and was one of the players association’s nominees for the board.

Judge Zak Yacoob, the chairman of the interim board, said last week that the rest of the directors had resolved to have Ramela removed from the board due to him being “generally obstructive in board matters”.

“He refuses to accept the majority decision if he does not feel it’s right and feels he needs to continue to fight. He does not have the discipline to accept a majority decision and is virtually impossible to deal with,” Yacoob said of Ramela last week. The former Cape Cobras and Highveld Lions batsman has apparently taken up the cudgels on behalf of suspended Company Secretary Welsh Gwaza, which is a very surprising turn of events in itself because Gwaza, along with former CEO Thabang Moroe spearheaded CSA’s efforts to sideline the players association, targeting Ramela personally in the process.

Ramela was notified of Tuesday’s meeting last week and given the opportunity to be present, with an attorney, to respond to the allegations against him.

But the 32-year-old did not respond to his notice, or to follow-up e-mails and WhatsApps, according to the interim board’s statement.

So the five remaining directors who were present – Haroon Lorgat is in Dubai and Stavros Nicolaou was also unable to attend – voted on the resolution to remove Ramela. Andre Odendaal abstained, but the other four directors voted in favour of the resolution.

“We are disappointed by what has transpired but we respect the fact that the board must do its work, they have a job to do. We will not engage the interim board unless they formally engage with us, which they have done on other issues, because we believe in their independence,” Andrew Breetzke, the CEO of SACA, told The Citizen.

South Africa’s new Test captain will take office on Friday with Cricket South Africa due to make the announcement following a lengthy meeting between the selectors and director of cricket Graeme Smith on Thursday afternoon.

While Smith said back in April that white-ball skipper Quinton de Kock will not be the Test captain as well due to workload concerns – a decision the wicketkeeper/batsman has backed – there have been recent mutterings that, with a new convenor of selectors in place in Victor Mpitsang, that position might be revisited.

But Mpitsang, newly installed as convenor, is unlikely to want to rock the boat too much as he presides over his first Test squad. There was certainly nothing controversial or left-field in the white-ball squads chosen for the curtailed series against England, and it is most likely that a placeholder captain will be put in place on Friday.

That’s because two of the most obvious candidates for the captaincy – batsmen Aiden Markram and Temba Bavuma – have not exactly cemented their places in the Test line-up.

Markram averaged just 28.61 in 2019 and needs to win his place in the XI back after injuring himself in the Boxing Day Test a year ago against England. While he has almost certainly done that by scoring three successive centuries for the Titans in four-day cricket, he now needs to regain that consistency at international level.

Bavuma returned to the side for the final Test against England, scoring 27 and 6 as South Africa’s batting disappointed at the Wanderers, and he averaged just 19.84 in 2019. And in all cricket this summer he has scored just 150 runs in six innings, plus he will not be playing in this weekend’s round of four-day matches for the Imperial Lions, having been released to attend to personal matters.

But with Faf du Plessis having retired from Test cricket, Bavuma is almost certain to keep his place in the Test team, although making him captain would appear to be placing unnecessary pressure on him whilst his Test future is still uncertain.

Rassie van der Dussen has shown great leadership qualities ever since he made his Proteas debut in October 2018. But he is still making his way in Test cricket, having only played four matches.

The Proteas do, however, have a ready-made candidate to take over the captaincy from Du Plessis, even if it is just as a stand-in for a couple of seasons. Dean Elgar is established in the Test team, having scored 3888 runs in 63 matches at the solid average of 38.49, considering South Africa is the toughest place to open the batting.

The 33-year-old Elgar is highly respected in the changeroom, especially for his indomitable qualities, and has openly put his name in the hat for the captaincy. Plus he has done the job before – leading the team against England at Lord’s in 2017 and to victory over Pakistan in Johannesburg in January 2019.

With South African cricket in such turmoil at the moment and the Proteas languishing in a woeful eighth place in the ICC World Test Championship, now is the time for stability and not gambling.

Just who messed up the bio-secure bubble for the Proteas and England teams at The Vineyard Hotel in Cape Town has become the subject of some dispute between Cricket South Africa (CSA) and the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB).

The ODI series between South Africa and England is in grave danger of not being played at all after two English players tested positive for Covid-19 at the weekend, following positive tests for two Vineyard staff members. The touring squad were all re-tested after the first ODI, due to be played on Friday, had to be postponed due to a positive test in the Proteas camp.

It was rescheduled for Sunday, but that match, as well as a game at Newlands on Monday, was also called off after England’s positive tests. Those results are now being scrutinised by independent medical experts, and if the positive outcome is confirmed, then the series will almost certainly be cancelled. The results are expected to be known on Monday evening.

This would cost cash-strapped CSA millions of Rands, but several England players have lucrative Big Bash contracts in Australia to fulfil and the others just want to get home for Christmas, so having to spend time in isolation is something they are desperately trying to avoid.

And the ECB on Monday countered an allegation made by Newlands stadium manager Clifford Dodgen that they had broken protocol at the ground on Thursday.

In an e-mail sent to representatives of the ECB, CSA, the Claremont South African Police Services station commander and the visible policing commander, and seen by The Citizen, Dodgen reveals a breach by the England team.

“Please be advised that the England cricket team has not adhered to the arrangements as agreed by all in the ESSPC [Event Safety and Security Planning Committee] meetings. The practice nets next to the construction site is not allowed to be used on practice days. Three cages of nets was set up on the square on the field.

“This serves to inform you that the England cricket team has accessed and used the nets today (3 December) at their own risk. Western Province Cricket Association and the ESSPC will not be held liable or responsible for the safety and health of the England cricket team,” Dodgen wrote.

But an England Cricket spokesperson told The Citizen on Monday: “On arrival at Newlands on 3 December, we advised the venue that the three nets provided on the main pitch were not of a standard for conducive practice, as per the Memorandum of Understanding signed by the respective boards. Batsmen were unable to face seam bowlers on the nets on the main pitch as the surfaces were rendered and unacceptable.

“We requested with CSA that we would like to use the practice nets and that we would create a security cordon to ensure the players and coaches could enter the facility safely, as done previously on 28 November. This was confirmed by England’s Security Team, the Team Operations Manager and the Team Doctor. We were satisfied with this outcome and we were able to practice in the net facility safely.

“As far as the England touring party are concerned, the safety and health of our players and coaches was not compromised.”

The nets in question are the ones usually used by teams playing at Newlands, but the area now sees foot traffic from workers on the construction site.

Members of both teams have also been exposed to people outside of the bubble by being allowed to play golf at Boschenmeer in Paarl.