Ken Borland

By their own admission, Cricket South Africa’s newest sponsors, Blue Label Telecoms, “have not really been out there” in the world of sport, which is surprising given that they are clearly passionate about it and have one of the most amazing collections of memorabilia you could hope to see.

The Blue Label head office in Sandton boasts a spectacular collection of cricket, motor racing, rugby, boxing, golf, tennis and cycling memorabilia that is a prominent feature of their first two floors.

CSA announced Blue Label as the new national team sponsors for T20 cricket from Saturday’s opening match against England through to the end of the Pakistan series in March in Sandton on Thursday.

“It’s a big step for Blue Label because we haven’t really been out there that much, although we’ve been behind South African sport for a long time,” CEO and co-founder Brett Levy said. “We have no doubt that we will complement the South African cricket brand.”

While the initial sponsorship is just a short-term deal, there is no doubt there is an outstanding fit between Blue Label – the leading provider of prepaid tokens and transactions in cellular communications, electricity, water and bus tickets, in developing economies such as South Africa, India, Mexcio and Nigeria – and twenty20 cricket and a longer term involvement in the sport is likely to be announced soon.

“The deal is short-term for now, but Blue Label have the first right of renewal and I’m sure the relationship will last longer than just until the end of the Pakistan series. If it’s a good fit, maybe they can take the whole space and move into domestic T20 as well,” CSA acting chief executive Jacques Faul said.

Blue Label themselves are in no doubt that they have much more to offer South African cricket.

“We view this as a long-term partnership, not a sponsorship, for many years to come. It’s easy just to give money, but it’s difficult to build a business together. But we are a company that’s about relationships, we touch about 21 million people’s lives every month, and we share a passion for people with Cricket South Africa. They say you are known by the company you keep and we are absolutely delighted to be with CSA,” Blue Label chief technical officer David Fraser said.

“In the next six months, we want to put together a long-term relationship once we make sure it works for both parties. It’s endless what we can do together and I can see this running indefinitely into the future,” Levy added.

Blue Label are big in India through their subsidiary company Oxigen and, with the South African cricket team also being very popular in the world’s second most populous country, the partnership could bloom explosive success.

With their larney near-field communications solutions technology, Blue Label are also hoping to “create a unique customer engagement model” with CSA’s “wonderful fan base”, according to Fraser.

Unfortunately for them, the ICC World T20 is not part of the deal because the game’s governing body disallowed their involvement due to a supposed clash with cellphone giants Reliance Mobile, who Blue Label supply airtime services to in India. But the proudly South African company should soon start getting substantial exposure in the global village with their logo prominently displayed on the Proteas’ T20 shirts in all other matches.

Faul agreed that the deal was yet another vote of confidence in CSA and their steps in the right direction after the Gerald Majola bonus scandal.

“It’s a very positive sign that corporate South Africa are looking more favourably at us. We want to move on and it’s great to have fantastic brands behind us that are so big in Africa and worldwide,” Faul said.

“The past is behind us and we’re starting fresh. This is a big endorsement of Cricket South Africa,” Levy agreed.

The deal is believed to be worth in the region of 12-15 million rand, although this value could double in coming years as Blue Label assist CSA in engaging more profitably with their fans.

http://www.supersport.com/cricket/sa-team/news/120906/New_sponsor_for_Proteas_T20_squad

Women’s Day – and it’s motto: “you strike a woman, you strike a rock” – is all about celebrating the courage and strength of women in South Africa and, in cricketing terms, Elise Lombard was the very epitome of those words.

Elise was the guest speaker at Cricket South Africa’s Women’s Day celebration on August 8 and spoke with great passion about the game she served so well for over 30 years.

So it was with great shock and sadness that the South African cricket fraternity learnt of Elise’s passing the next day, ironically on Women’s Day, which is meant to celebrate heroines exactly like her.

What set Elise apart as the CEO of Titans and Northerns cricket was her ability to combine a gentle, caring touch with tremendous leadership skills, business acumen and organisational excellence.

Although her shock passing will forever taint the memory of that day, CSA’s 2012 Women’s Day function was meant to be a celebration and what a party it was!

CSA has retained a wonderful team spirit and the female staff were able to let their hair down in a series of challenges involving dancing and singing.

National women’s captain Mignon du Preez has a lot on her plate at the moment ahead of the ICC Women’s T20 in Sri Lanka, but she took time out to report back on the team’s preparations, which have been nothing short of exhaustive.

South Africa have been drawn in the same group as hosts Sri Lanka, New Zealand and the West Indies, but Du Preez said her team’s confidence has been boosted by their recent series against world leaders England and the England Academy.

Women’s cricket has unfairly been dubbed as “butch” in the past, but Du Preez, alongside the likes of Dane van Niekerk, Yolandi van der Westhuizen and Shandre Fritz, showed the glamorous, athletic side of the sport.

“There’s not that much awareness about women’s cricket and there’s a misperception, people think you have to be butch to play cricket. But cricket is for any girls – and pretty ones too!” the petite Du Preez smiled.

The rise of the women’s game in South Africa is something Elise Lombard was fully behind. The game of cricket would be much the poorer if it weren’t for the contribution of all the wonderful women who add so much.

Wayne Parnell is unlikely to be in any trouble with Cricket South Africa over allegations he took recreational drugs in India, CSA acting chief executive Jacques Faul told supersport.com on Monday.

Parnell, who was in India playing for the Pune Warriors in the Indian Premier League, was arrested in Mumbai in May during a police raid on a rave party. He and Indian spinner Rahul Sharma were, along with nearly 90 other people, given drug tests and, on July 20, television stations in India reported police had confirmed positive tests for the duo.

But Faul said CSA’s efforts to get official confirmation of these reports had so far been in vain.

“We’ve been trying to get official word from the BCCI and Indian police, but so far we’ve got nothing. The Indian police haven’t yet laid a charge against Wayne,” Faul said.

Faul added that for CSA to take action against the international they would need far greater evidence than what has currently been made available to them.

“To take action against Wayne will be next to impossible at the moment because the whole process over there has been shambolic. The police are talking to some sections of the media but not to the cricket boards, the whole testing procedure was not done according to the standards that normally apply in sport and Wayne would be able to contest any action we take with absolute ease,” Faul said.

Parnell, who has always claimed his innocence and said he was “in the wrong place at the wrong time”, has allegedly tested positive for marijuana and will more than likely base his defence on the passive smoking principle i.e. other people at the party were smoking marijuana and he breathed some in just by being in the same room.

Parnell celebrates his 23rd birthday on Monday and the news that CSA are unlikely to take any action against him will be a great present ahead of a crucial summer for the left-arm paceman.

http://www.supersport.com/cricket/sa-team/news/120730/Parnell_unlikely_to_be_in_any_trouble

Cricket South Africa (CSA) have won a major battle in their disciplinary enquiry against former chief executive officer Gerald Majola and are also making progress in their efforts to restructure their board to align with the recommendations of the Nicholson Committee.

Acting chief executive Jacques Faul revealed in Sandton on Friday that the chairman of the disciplinary enquiry, Advocate Johan Myburgh SC, had handed down an advisory award in favour of Cricket South Africa, finding sufficient reason for Majola to be fired.

Majola and his legal team have not accepted the advisory award, which is non-binding, and the case will now proceed to a full disciplinary hearing, where witnesses and cross-examination can now be included in the process.

In more good news for cricket, Faul also announced that he had withdrawn his resignation letter because those board members who were apparently unhappy with how he carried out his responsibilites now backed him.

“I’ve withdrawn my resignation because I now feel that I have the support of the board. I wasn’t sure before, but I’ve subsequently had numerous calls from board members stating that they back me fully,” Faul said.

A smaller board, with more independent representation and greater corporate skills were amongst the key recommendations made by Judge Chris Nicholson after his hearing into Majola and the bonus scandal, and CSA acting president Dr Willie Basson said this process was still firmly on track and now had the full backing of the board.

“It was a very severe Nicholson report, his findings had great implications and his recommendations were difficult to accept. But after today’s meeting, I can categorically state that there is a very strong resolve to complete the process as closely as possible to the judge’s recommendations,” Basson said.

“The reality is very simple, we had problems with our governance structure and it was at odds with how it is developing across the world. It’s all about smaller boards now, that are more skilled and have more of an independent presence. The board has accepted these proposals and made peace with them.”

The benefits of a smaller, more independent but better skilled board are that cricket should be run more efficiently, they will be better attuned to corporate South Africa and provincial presidents can then concentrate more on their own constituencies, without clouding issues of national importance with their own agendas.

CSA will then be divided into two bodies – a professional board and a members’ forum made up of representatives from all the provinces, associates and aligned bodies.

Basson said a nominations committee would be formed and will provide the current board with a list of people to sit on the new structure.

“The nominations committee will have independent members and will be appointed by the board to identify potential independent board members. Through advertisements and submissions by the public, they will sift through the candidates and then the final choice will be made by the members’ forum,” he said.

In the new structure, the members’ forum will meet perhaps three times a year and decide on broad policies for cricket in the country, while providing “checks and balances” to the board.

The smaller, independent board will meet monthly and be responsible for implementing those policies, the day-to-day operations of cricket and monetary issues.