Ken Borland

Racial tensions have been laid bare in South African cricket over the last 48 hours with 31 former Black players and five current Black coaches sending a letter to Cricket South Africa urging them to support the Black Lives Matter movement and confront racial divides in the game, while the president of the players’ association, Omphile Ramela, sent a letter to the sports minister asking him to throw the lawbook at the organisation for their lack of transformation.

Cricket South Africa, through their acting CEO Jacques Faul, have already issued a statement saying they stand in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement.

Former franchise players have provided a window into their experiences of racial discrimination as well, with their overwhelming narrative being that systemic racism upholds and perpetuates all the past wrongs.

The Titans, perhaps because they have been the most successful franchise, but more probably because Faul and Proteas coach Mark Boucher come from there, have attracted the most attention. Ethy Mbhalati, the leading wicket-taker in Titans history whose career ended in 2015 due to his involvement with matchfixing, said “there is institutionalised racism at Northerns” and “unfortunately when you questioned things, the system kicked you out and we were scared to lose our jobs”.

But Tebogo Siko, the current president of the Northerns Cricket Union and Titans cricket, has been involved in the administration of the franchise for many years.

“I can tell you that the Northerns Board is 70% Black and if the structures were blocking change then I don’t think that would have happened. Of course we are never in a position to say the status quo must stay the same, but the Titans seem to be being attacked left, right and centre based on our achievements. Which include having a Black coach [Mandla Mashimbyi] and assistant coach [Geoff Toyana],” Siko told The Citizen on Wednesday afternoon.

Siko also issued a statement on Wednesday responding directly to Mbhalati’s claims: “We’ve recently come to learn of the experiences of racial discrimination, cultural bias and remuneration bias Mr Mbhalati was faced with. There was never a formal complaint laid by Mr Mbhalati and this makes it difficult for us to deal with such a matter. We can also go on record and say Mr Mbhalati was among the top earners at the franchise towards the end of his career.

“The history of South Africa is a very dark one and we are well aware that remnants of our past live on 26 years later. It is clear that in our society people still battle with the difficulties from pre-1994 and some of these difficulties are experienced even within the game we love. As citizens of South Africa, we understand what we have been through and as a union and franchise we acknowledge that past and where we are currently. With this having been said, it is important that we make it clear that we do not tolerate racism and discrimination of any sort at franchise level, provincial, or anywhere within our pipeline.

“We have never had any complaints of racism in the past or in the present. Players and staff are aware of the processes they need to go through to lay a complaint. Our board has a Transformation and Ethics Committee, which is responsible for dealing with such matters should they arise,” Siko said.

Typical of the nation-building, reconciling force for unity he has always been, former Proteas batting star Hashim Amla made a rare foray on to social media in order to back Lungi Ngidi’s call to support BLM and also state that he stands with all those who are oppressed.

“The Black Lives Matter campaign has relevance for everyone. The person who believes the imagined superiority of Whites over Blacks or Blacks over Whites, or one nationality over another, is simply delusional. Many of us, including myself, have borne the brunt of these delusions and have crazy stories to tell, which is why it makes it even more admirable to see exceptional youngsters like Lungi Ngidi doing his bit to represent us all.

“The end product of being racist is only self-destruction.There are oppressed people here in this country and the world over, of all colours and walks of life, cricket included. However the darker-skinned people have had the worst of it. I stand with all those who are oppressed. And I stand with Lungi Ngidi,” Amla said.

Cricket South Africa’s announcement this week that they had chosen a high performance squad of 45 players to resume training in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic gave an interesting insight into the players that the current Proteas management believe are going to take the national cricket team forward into a new era.

While the likes of Dean Elgar, Faf du Plessis, Rassie van der Dussen, Imran Tahir, David Miller and Dwaine Pretorius were all included because they still have important roles to play for the Proteas in the near future, it is also irresistible to not cast our minds forwards to five years’ time and consider what the South African team would look like then.

There is no doubt head coach Mark Boucher and director of cricket Graeme Smith, in the middle of a rebuilding process following the retirement of greats such as Dale Steyn, AB de Villiers, Hashim Amla, Vernon Philander, Morne Morkel and JP Duminy, are also thinking ahead to a time when another half-dozen players call quits on their careers. Their goal will be to ensure the next overhaul of the national team is not as painful as the one we are currently going through.

Let’s hope that in five years’ time, a 30-year-old Kagiso Rabada and a 29-year-old Lungi Ngidi are able to share the new ball and have developed into a partnership to rival the great South African fast bowling duos of Neil Adcock and Peter Heine, Peter Pollock and Mike Procter, Allan Donald and Shaun Pollock, Pollock and Makhaya Ntini, and Steyn and Morkel.

Rabada, if he continues in the same vein that has seen him take 197 wickets in just 43 Tests since 2015, should be challenging Steyn’s record of 439 Test wickets and should be established as one of the greats of the game. His current bowling average is just 22.95 and only Curtly Ambrose, Richard Hadlee, Glenn McGrath and Muttiah Muralitharan have taken 400 wickets at a lower average. Amazingly, Steyn has finished his Test career with the exact same average of 22.95.

Let’s also hope that Rabada fulfils his potential with the bat and can slot in at number eight in the batting order, contributing valuable runs.

With Anrich Nortje and Lutho Sipamla as back-up quicks, the Proteas could field a ferocious pace attack. The best South African teams have always hit their opposition with an unrelenting pace barrage.

Current first-choice spinner Keshav Maharaj will be 35 in five years’ time, which is certainly not too old for a slow bowler to be playing Test cricket. But I fancy George Linde, a tall left-arm spinner who has already had a taste of Test cricket, taking four wickets in India in the only innings he bowled in, may well have forced his way into a regular starting place by then, not least of all due to his prowess with the bat, which has already seen him score three first-class centuries.

In terms of the batting order, much depends on whether Quinton de Kock is still as keen on playing with the gloves as he is now. If he is no longer the wicketkeeper, playing as a specialist batsman, then there is an excellent replacement behind the stumps in Kyle Verreynne, with the likes of Heinrich Klaasen, Wandile Makwetu and Sinethemba Qeshile waiting in the wings.

One hopes that top-class talents like Aiden Markram, Zubayr Hamza and Temba Bavuma have by then built a formidable reputation in Test cricket, a trio of batsmen all averaging over 40 and allowing De Kock to do what he does best, taking a long handle to opposition attacks.

As a great fan of Markram, having followed his career closely since those glorious U19 days, I would also hope that by then he has become established enough to be the national captain. He has the most natural leadership qualities, is respected by friend and foe alike, and that would allow the likes of De Kock and Bavuma to play with the freedom that makes them most dangerous.

In terms of Markram’s opening partner, the tremendously determined Elgar’s Test career might not yet be over but he will be 38. Chances are that he would have moved on, likewise a 36-year-old Van der Dussen. Current Warriors opener Ed Moore should be at his peak at 32 years old and I have chosen him over Janneman Malan simply based on a technique that is probably better suited to Test cricket.

Malan should be a key figure though in South Africa’s white-ball sides, along with current stars like Tabraiz Shamsi and Andile Phehlukwayo.

Raynard van Tonder, who topped last season’s run-scoring chart with 843 at 70.25 for the Knights, is currently at the front of the queue of uncapped young batsmen looking to be Proteas regulars by 2025, but over the course of five years, new talents will certainly emerge, so who knows?

Somewhere out there right now there could be a 15-year-old who is the next AB de Villiers, Steyn, Jacques Kallis or Paul Adams. Although overlooked for my potential starting XI, there are also players in this week’s 45-man training squad like Wiaan Mulder, Gerald Coetzee, Bjorn Fortuin and Senuran Muthusamy who could also develop into world-class Proteas.

July 18, 1944 was the day the patent for a combined pepper and salt shaker was issued in the United States and on the same day 76 years later, Cricket South Africa and 3TCricket will look to spice up the game by combining three teams in the same match playing for the Solidarity Cup.

Perhaps a more significant reason to remember July 18, 2020 though will be that that is the day live cricket action will return to South Africa after the 2019/20 season was halted by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Having eventually received approval for a return to practice and play from the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture last weekend, CSA on Wednesday announced that the groundbreaking 3TCricket match will now take place on July 18, Nelson Mandela International Day. The event was originally meant to take place on June 27, but government approval was delayed because the venue, SuperSport Park in Centurion, was in a Covid-19 hotspot and CSA’s plans needed to be approved by the Department of Health as well.

Now that the bureaucracy has been satisfied, 3TCricket will still be launched at SuperSport Park, starting at 11am, and the pay-TV channel will also broadcast the action live, with Kagiso Rabada’s Kingfishers looking to bombard Quinton de Kock’s Kites and the Eagles team led by AB de Villiers into submission.

“It’s very exciting to get live cricket, featuring our top players, back on our TV screens again. I can’t think of a more appropriate day on which to hold this game than Nelson Mandela Day when its prime objective is to raise funds for those who have been badly affected by the Corona Virus. It is still nearly three weeks away, so it also gives our players more time to prepare properly and to minimise the chance of injuries.

“I would like to thank the government and our own medical team once again for everything they have done to make a return to training and playing possible, and I would also like to add special thanks to the incredible sponsors involved in this event for their continued commitment towards the match and its beneficiary, the Hardship Fund,” Jacques Faul, CSA’s chief executive, said in a statement released on Wednesday.

The fact that CSA are allowed to stage this event in a hotspot shows just how finely tuned their precautionary measures to mitigate against the risk of infection are.

“First of all it will be an empty stadium, we’re looking at the minimum number of people being there for the event to happen and be broadcast, which is about 200. We will limit the number of team staff, otherwise it will just be the broadcast personnel, officials, players and stadium staff. There will also be thorough cleaning of the stadium beforehand.

“The players will get in three days before and be kept in a sanitized eco-system, at the hotel, when they travel and at the stadium. We will test the players before they get to Centurion and again five days afterwards in order to get rid of any false negatives. On average it takes five days from infection for someone to test positive. In the stadium, everyone will wear masks and doors will be kept open along with other safety measures,” CSA’s chief medical officer Dr Shuaib Manjra said.

A return to international action any time soon is looking increasingly unlikely for Dale Steyn after the 37-year-old fast bowler was omitted from a 45-man Cricket South Africa High Performance Squad that resumed training this week in small, monitored groups with their franchise coaches.

And, judging by the statement released on Tuesday by CSA to explain Steyn’s absence, it unfortunately looks as if South Africa’s leading wicket-taker is once again struggling with injury.

“Dale is not available to take part in the high performance training programme at this stage. Cricket South Africa’s medical team is monitoring his fitness and are in constant contact with his medical team in Cape Town. We will evaluate his progress over the next few months and go with the advice of the experts in regards to the next steps,” director of cricket Graeme Smith said in the statement.

The nature of his ailment is clouded in uncertainty at the moment, but apparently they are just niggles. Steyn missed last year’s World Cup due to long-standing shoulder problems and has played just eight Tests, nine ODIs and five T20 Internationals for the Proteas in the last three years.

In August, Steyn announced his retirement from Test cricket in order to prolong his white-ball career and was targeting the ICC World T20 Cup in Australia in October. But with a fresh Covid-19 outbreak happening in Victoria, it is now very doubtful that that tournament will take place this year.

There was better news though for several uncapped players as they received confirmation that they are in the Proteas’ plans for the future.

Experienced leg-spinner Shaun von Berg, batsmen Ed Moore, Raynard van Tonder, Sarel Erwee, Tony de Zorzi, Rudi Second, Keegan Petersen and Marques Ackerman, all-rounders Sisanda Magala and Gerald Coetzee, and pace bowlers Glenton Stuurman and Nandre Burger were all called up for training.

The High Performance Squad also offers the chance of an international reprieve for the likes of batsmen Pite van Biljon, Khaya Zondo and Theunis de Bruyn, fast bowlers Junior Dala and Daryn Dupavillon, all-rounder Wiaan Mulder and spinner Senuran Muthusamy.

Champion limited-overs leg-spinner Imran Tahir is training with the Dolphins in Durban, while Chris Morris, although he is still available for the 3TCricket event that will herald the return of cricket in the coming weeks, is not included in the Proteas’ plans.

High Performance Squad

Batsmen: Quinton de Kock, Rassie van der Dussen, Ed Moore, Pieter Malan, Dean Elgar, Pite van Biljon, David Miller, Zubayr Hamza, Temba Bavuma, Raynard van Tonder, Sarel Erwee, Janneman Malan, Aiden Markram, Reeza Hendricks, Khaya Zondo, Tony de Zorzi, Theunis de Bruyn, Rudi Second, Heinrich Klaasen, Kyle Verreynne, Keegan Petersen, Faf du Plessis, Marques Ackerman.

Spinners: Shaun von Berg, Keshav Maharaj, George Linde, Bjorn Fortuin, Senuran Muthusamy, Tabraiz Shamsi, Imran Tahir

All-rounders: Andile Phehlukwayo, Dwaine Pretorius, Sisanda Magala, Gerald Coetzee, Jon-Jon Smuts, Wiaan Mulder,

Fast bowlers: Anrich Nortje, Lungi Ngidi, Glenton Stuurman, Junior Dala, Kagiso Rabada, Daryn Dupavillon, Nandre Burger, Lutho Sipamla, Beuran Hendricks.