Ken Borland

I suppose one should pay Cricket South Africa’s Members Council their dues for the sort of sheer bloodymindedness and obstinacy that, if our batsmen could replicate it at the crease, would ensure that the Proteas never lose another Test match.

But now, with the game in this country teetering on the precipice, it really is time for them to give up the stonewalling and save us all a lot of time, effort and frustration, by accepting the inevitable changes in governance that will bring a majority independent board. Ultimately, they are trying to defy the sports minister, which is a pointless exercise reminiscent of when the SA Rugby Union, through their bombastic president Louis Luyt, took Nelson Mandela to court in 1998.

You may win the odd legal battle, but you are most certainly not going to win the war.

Dr Stavros Nicolaou, the chairman of the Interim Board, this week detailed every step in the negotiations with the Members Council and it reminded me of those World War I soldiers who would fight for days in the muddy, bloody trenches to add just a metre or two to their frontline.

And now, the handful of recalcitrants on the Members Council who scuppered the Special General Meeting last weekend are considering legal action to stop both a new constitution and Minister Nathi Mthethwa’s punitive action that is yet to be announced. CSA is an organisation that has spent millions and millions on legal fees in the last couple of years, robbing the game itself of much-needed resources, so it might seem a bit unfair that the Interim Board (their antagonists) now have to give their approval in order for the Members Council to enlist the help of lawyers in their battle, but thank goodness it is the case.

Much of the Members Council’s delaying tactics seem to have revolved around deliberate misrepresentations of what the Interim Board’s new Memorandum of Incorporation actually says. And Nicolaou confirmed this week that, apart from a majority independent board and an independent chair, everything else is negotiable. Which has not been the picture portrayed by the recalcitrants.

Do the Members Council want a 15-person board? That’s fine, then the equation will be eight independent directors, five non-independent and the two executives (CEO & CFO). Or a 13-strong board? Then the make-up will be 7-4-2; even a board of 11 is possible, with six independents, three non-independents and the two executives.

In terms of the criteria for directors, the nominations committee can decide whether they want an emphasis on a cricket background or skills in legal affairs, accounting or finance. There is no need for these criteria to be stipulated in the MoI.

What has been put in the MoI is the make-up of the all-important nominations committee that will select the independent directors. It is pleasing to see the six-person panel will include either a men’s or women’s former international player nominated by SACA, alongside a former CSA president nominated by the Interim Board, a Members Council representative and people from the Institute of Chartered Accountants, Institute of Directors and the Legal Practice Council.

And the definition of an independent director precludes anyone involved in the administration of the game at provincial or national level, not everyone involved in the game such as coaches or former players.

This MoI has been debated and pored over and modified since the first meeting of the working group, made up of three representatives each from the Members Council and Interim Board, on January 31. According to Nicolaou, on April 15, two days before the ill-fated SGM, the Members Council had agreed to the new MoI.

Their sudden about-turn, orchestrated in the most scheming, underhand manner, has meant all those months of effort have been wasted. As Nicolaou pointed out, “the Members Council continuing to kick this can down the road has awful consequences on the hard-working employees of CSA and the players”.

And think of Anne Vilas, the Central Gauteng Lions president who has been at the forefront of taking a public stand against the recalcitrants. In fact, think of her husband Doug, who has hardly seen his wife for the last few months such has been the number of late-night meetings she has had to attend as the Interim Board and the Members Council have wrangled.

For all our sakes, let’s hope the Members Council relents while there is still time.

Cricket South Africa’s Social Justice and Nation-Building Commission is only going to have six months to do its work, but the organisation is going to ensure the ombudsman, Advocate Dumisa Ntsebeza, has all the resources required to complete his mandate.

“It is a very limited period – six months – so there is a sense of urgency to investigate and adjudicate all the submissions received, which by-and-large will deal with unfair discrimination. I will try and keep a tight rein, strict adherence to the program, but I must warn the public that sometimes these inquiries take on a life of their own. Hopefully we will not need an extension of time.

“I initially felt I needed three years, but after useful discussions with the Interim Board of CSA, I am now in respectful agreement, I am convinced, that it is doable in six months, but very difficult. There is never enough time for any commission dealing with the legacy of history, but there has to be a set time for making decisions so that you are focused. Yes, I wish there was more time, but I will do the job,” Ntsebeza, who sat on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, told a virtual conference on Thursday.

“It maybe felt like forever in getting SJN up and running, but there has been a lot of work going on in the background. CSA had to make sure we were totally ready to support Advocate Ntsebeza operationally and we have already set up facilities for him and his support staff. We don’t want this to be a tick-box exercise, so sufficient resources have definitely been made available to make sure he can deliver his mandate,” CSA acting chief executive Pholetsi Moseki said.

Ntsebezi admitted that he could not control CSA’s reaction to his recommendations, but he was confident they will implement the transformation imperatives he tables.

“There is no provision in my terms of reference or any statute that forces them to implement my recommendations; they remain recommendations. But I don’t think CSA would have taken the opportunity to embark on this project, they would not have made the appointment in the first place, if they were not serious. But there are no guarantees.

“I have no magic wand and I don’t have the mandate to use a big stick on CSA. But if they don’t implement then it will be time spent in vain. In my discussions with the Interim Board, I got a sense of commitment and an appetite to see this through, otherwise I would not have taken the job. I would hope that those tasked with implementing my recommendations will rise to the occasion,” Ntsebeza said.

You get diverse reactions from players to their own magnificent individual performances that ensure a team triumph, but Lizelle Lee’s self-deprecation after her superb unbeaten century took South Africa to victory over India in the third ODI at Lucknow on Friday was utterly charming.

Lee scored a remarkable 132 not out off 131 balls to steer South Africa to victory and a 2-1 lead in the five-match series, after they were set a daunting 249 for the win. It was the third highest ODI score ever for the Proteas women’s team and the fourth highest in international women’s cricket in a chase. In her last 9 ODIs dating back to the start of 2020, Lee has scored 472 runs at an average of 67.42. Her strike-rate has been 86.44, figures only a handful of batters have been able to better lately.

“I’m definitely not one of the best openers in the game, but I am striving to be one. I have to be more consistent though and I hope that happens because I’ve been working extremely hard. To be honest, I always have the same game-plan – see ball, hit ball. The only change I’ve made is to try not hit in the air as much as I used to because I was getting out caught a lot,” Lee said after her career-best effort.

The hard-hitting 28-year-old also had plenty of praise for her team-mates.

“The credit should go to the bowlers because India were on their way to more than 300 and it was outstanding how they pulled them back, that was very crucial. Mignon du Preez also played an excellent innings and showed that partnerships are key. She’s full of confidence at the moment and hitting the ball well, she showed her experience very well,” Lee said.

Lee certainly has the explosive properties one wants at the top of the innings, being able to batter the ball to the boundary with relatively low-risk shots in the powerplay. Her power is well-known as she has been a key figure in the Big Bash League for the two Melbourne sides – the Stars and the Renegades.

On Friday she showed she has the ability to not only set up innings with her dominant strokeplay, but the composure to manage a tight run-chase as well – South Africa needed 26 off 21 balls in Lucknow when the rain arrived and play was called off, leaving them six runs ahead of the DLS par-score.

Any minute now Cricket South Africa are set to announce their winter tours with director of cricket Graeme Smith saying on Monday morning that he was hoping for a “very busy” year of international action. But he also called on the International Cricket Council (ICC) to show more leadership to ensure teams outside of the Big Three continue to have decent fixtures lined up.

While Australia pulling out of the Test tour scheduled for next month clearly still hurts CSA, Pakistan will help fill the void by coming over for a white-ball series in April, and CSA are expected to announce tours to the West Indies and Sri Lanka over our winter, as well as a series in India before the T20 World Cup in October/November.

“Our relationship with Cricket Australia is definitely now strained and the ICC needs strong leadership because Covid is just amplifying the Haves and the Have-Nots. The FTP [Future Tours Programme] is going to be hugely challenging with eight ICC events in the next eight years, an extended IPL and the calendar being dominated by England, Australia and India [the Big Three]. That just amplifies the stress on us and the other countries looking for good content.

“Fortunately there has been the opportunity to manoeuvre a bit in the FTP and add some tours. This Pakistan tour coming up was meant to happen last October and we were meant to go to the West Indies last year, there’s also a Sri Lanka tour, India before the World Cup and they’re also meant to be coming here at the end of the year. But it takes time to finalise these – it’s a bit of a bun fight because every nation is trying to fill gaps,” Smith said on Monday.

“So I think the men’s team is going to be very busy. But the game as a whole needs leadership right now because I don’t think we want to see only three teams competing at the top in 10 years time. Their leagues are just getting bigger and bigger and the rest will be left with no content. Covid has really fast-tracked this issue and I think the ICC has been caught a bit off-guard,” the former Proteas captain added.

Because of the uncertain global stage at the moment, Smith announced a new drive by CSA to uplift the domestic game. The T20 Challenge will start on Friday and is being played in a bio-bubble in Durban, with all the Proteas being obliged to play. The conclusion of the four-day competition will then happen in March and Smith is hopeful the national team players will also feature in that.

“Because Australia are no longer coming in March, we’ve decided it is important to invest in our domestic competitions and we are making all the national players available. Those guys coming from Pakistan will go straight into the bubble in Durban. We’re also trying to make sure the four-day competition will be televised and there will be national player involved too.

“South African cricket needs to come first and it is open season now in terms of national contracts. There have been some good performances by the Proteas, but there are a lot of places up for grabs and we want to see a lot of competition and people performing domestically. The goal is to see all our players stepping up because it is now contracting season. Everyone in the Proteas has been really positive and they want to play,” Smith said.

The mental well-being of players will need to be carefully managed though especially as some of the Proteas were already showing signs of bubble fatigue in Pakistan.

“It is a challenging space being in these bubbles, but some of the Proteas have only played seven games the whole season so the workload issues are not there. Being in Pakistan, with security around you all the time, may have caused some additional stress, but all the players were extremely happy with how they were looked after by the Pakistan Cricket Board.

“We are trying our best to manage the mental health of the players, there is a psychologist involved and SACA [the players’ union] are also helping. For the IPL the players will have to spend two months in a bubble and I don’t see our four-day competition happening in a bubble. We want to do as much as we can for the local competitions and we want to see players putting their hands up there,” Smith said.