Ken Borland

Proteas captain Dean Elgar said on Thursday that “If we want success then we need consistency in selection” as he indicated that much the same South Africa team will take the field at St George’s Park on Friday for the second Test against Bangladesh.

For the first time since 1970, South Africa played two frontline spinners in a home Test during last week’s thumping win over Bangladesh in the first Test in Durban, and Elgar said he expected conditions to be similar. So Keshav Maharaj and Simon Harmer look set to both play again and even struggling all-rounder Wiaan Mulder remains in contention for the starting XI.

“If we want success we need consistency in selection and it’s normally a similar sort of pitch here as it is at Kingsmead,” Elgar said. “So I don’t think there will be many changes.

“I like the adaptability of our attack and I would love to have used Wiaan more. But when we saw the conditions, we decided to keep the pressure on with our world-class spinners.

“It might be different here in PE, especially if the ball swings, and then we’re more likely to use Wiaan to showcase his skills. The wind is a massive factor and it hasn’t stopped blowing since we got here.

“If it comes over the scoreboard then the locals call it the ‘Swing Wind’. But the players need to adapt to whatever circumstances come their way and the seamers might have a lot more work in this Test,” Elgar said.

Bangladesh, meanwhile, have apparently lodged a formal complaint with the ICC over the Proteas’ alleged sledging during the first Test, which they say was ignored by the South African umpires.

Elgar, in typically hard-nosed fashion, said the tourists have to harden up to the realities of Test cricket.

“It’s not justified what they said towards the South African side. We do play hard, but we were just giving back what we got. And there was certainly no swearing, we do everything with dignity.

“They need to harden up and play at the Test level of intensity. It’s Test cricket and they must dry their eyes. There’s a lot that’s not seen, there are off-camera incidents as well.

“But we would not intentionally intimidate a young player with language, but with skill. When I started Test cricket, the environment was much harsher than it is now.

“We still want to win though, so if some mind-games can help you with that then why not use them? Maybe Bangladesh got caught up in the moment a bit … ” Elgar said.

A hard-hitting letter from Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture Nathi Mthethwa to Beresford Williams probably ices the cake in terms of sealing the fate of Cricket South Africa’s acting president, who has indicated his desire to stand for the permanent position at the AGM on December 5.

Williams was told by parliament’s sports portfolio committee to recuse himself from Tuesday’s hearing with CSA because he is implicated in the Fundudzi Forensic Report, not only for his involvement in a R5 million loan to the Western Province Cricket Association that he was formerly president of, but also being on the Board committee who appointed Thabang Moroe as full-time CEO in 2018 after he had been acting for a year despite him not meeting the minimum requirements for the post.

But Williams’ shares have fallen even further with the leaking of a letter from sports minister Mthethwa, who is clearly adamantly against Williams continuing as president. Replying to a letter from CSA, signed by Williams, which states that the CSA Board have decided not to step down and told Mthethwa he did not have the legal power to force them, the sports minister threatened: “As a parting shot, I wish to reiterate that I shall not be dissuaded from applying what the National Sport and Recreation Act 110 of 1998 enjoins me to do”.

The Mthethwa letter begins: “I note that instead of accurately depicting what was said at the meeting we had on 6 October, you have taken the liberty to put words into my mouth. To that end, I will use my response to correct some of the inaccuracies that are evident in your letter”.

Mthethwa went on to say he did not provide the directive for Williams and the Board to step down, but instead was agreeing with Sascoc’s call for this to happen.

“In addition to the National  Sport and Recreation Act 110 of 1998 you seem to selectively quote from, to show that I do not have the power to intervene, you are kindly reminded that as a sovereign country in which I am the Minister responsible for Sport, Arts and Culture, there is a raft of laws at my disposal, that empower me to deal effectively with recalcitrant behaviour within my portfolio,” Mthethwa stated.

The four main outcomes Mthethwa wants to see, according to his letter, are the full implementation of the Nicholson Commission recommendations, the appointment of a new, stable Board, effective transformation and the correct handling of the Fundudzi Forensic Report.

Apart from telling Mthethwa he did not have the power to force the Board to step down, CSA also said they viewed his intervention as government interference which probably “jeopardises CSA’s continued membership of the ICC”.

The bad news for CSA and Williams is that Mthethwa has the power to no longer recognise them as a national federation, thereby making their membership of the International Cricket Council moot in any case.

Cricket South Africa on Thursday officially parted ways with their chief executive Thabang Moroe, announcing that he has been fired with immediate effect for serious misconduct, but the size of his misdemeanours is only likely to be revealed in the coming months as the dismissed administrator’s legal team have already indicated they will fight his axing in court.

CSA’s brief statement on Thursday said the “decision was based on expert external legal opinion supported by the findings emanating from an independent forensic investigation” but they gave no details of what exactly Moroe had done wrong. And the CSA Board have already rebuffed requests for the forensic report to be made public, including from their own Members Council, which is scheduled to elect a new Board on September 5.

Many believe the report implicates the Board in many of the things Moroe has been punished for, a perception his legal team have supported.

At the time of his suspension, way back in December, Moroe had presided over a huge deterioration in CSA’s relationships with key stakeholders such as the players’ union, sponsors and media. He was also accused of excessive credit card spending and procurement irregularities.

The forensic investigators, Fundudzi Forensic Services, interviewed a range of stakeholders before submitting their report in May, since when CSA have supplied numerous different excuses for not finalising the matter more timeously.

Tellingly, Moroe did not avail himself of the opportunity to be interviewed by Fundudzi, a point CSA were quick to highlight in their statement on Thursday.

“Mr Thabang Moroe was offered sufficient opportunity to provide representations to the independent forensic auditors and to the Board regarding the allegations of misconduct, which opportunity he failed and/or refused to utilise,” the statement read.

Moroe’s legal team are likely to include this in any legal action they take, given that they also targeted the chairperson overseeing his disciplinary hearing, demanding that they be replaced by an independent figure.

As much as the CSA Board may now believe the Moroe matter is done and dusted, there are numerous parties who are determined to ensure the forensic report is made public, and the axed CEO will certainly be using it in his defence. The behaviour of the CSA Board will then be in the spotlight.

Bulls captain Pierre Spies says the players are looking forward to breaking out of their shells a bit in next year’s SuperRugby competition after coach Frans Ludeke indicated this week that a new game plan would revolve around scoring more tries.

“We want to create a more attacking mindset. In many ways the players felt restricted last season, they felt bound to the plan on the table, which never should have been the case, that wasn’t the intention. We want to create an environment for the guys to go out and play and enjoy their rugby,” Spies said at the launch of the Bulls’ new Puma jerseys.

For the Bulls to play more expansively, their conditioning will obviously have to improve and Spies said that was a current focus of the team, who have already started their pre-season training.

“We’re stretching ourselves physically at the moment because this is a vital stage of our preparations, we need to build a fitness base. SuperRugby will be played straight through next year because of the World Cup, there won’t be a break, so we don’t want to be carrying any extra weight that will slow our game down. We want to put some speed on the ball, we want to play a lot more of a running game so we need a lot more running metres on the legs,” Spies said.

The current injury status of the eighthman, who has suffered a wretched last two years in terms of being unavailable, is also looking good for him to start the competition.

“The plan is that I will be available for the first game, but I’m not going to rush things, I don’t want to get re-injured. I’ve started the pre-season training although I do sit out some sessions. I don’t want to do anything to rush the arm, I’ll make sure I’m fully fit,” Spies said.

The question of player management is obviously a crucial one in a World Cup year and Spies, as a Springbok hopeful, acknowledged the difficulties.

“They always speak about player management but then you end up playing every game! But it is a World Cup year, so it doesn’t help sparing yourself. Plus it will take me a few weeks to find my feet again, to get used to the intensity of SuperRugby again.”

Spies is confident that the Bulls squad now has great depth and the inexperienced players who were thrown into the deep end this year now have the belief to perform, especially away from home, which has been their downfall in the past.

“It was a tough year, with a new squad and so many of the games were close. A lot of guys had their first taste of SuperRugby, the pace, conditions and intensity of the competition, and they’ll be much better for that. We have some great youngsters from the U21s who will add depth and hopefully get a run. But we have a good core of seniors and you need that experience to bring calm.

“The internal competition for places raises the standard of training and Trevor Nyakane, Adriaan Strauss and Lappies Labuschagne are all brilliant signings that will have a massive impact,” Spies said.