Ken Borland

The Proteas were meant to make their return from the Covid-19 Lockdown with a tour to the West Indies in the southern hemisphere winter, but it seems it will be England touring South Africa that will provide them with their first taste of international action.

England are keen to play three ODIs and three T20 internationals from mid-November to early December, with domestic action kicking off in South Africa on November 2. While British media have speculated that the series will take place in a bio-bubble in Cape Town, it is known that Highveld venues have also been told to prepare to host the 50-over world champions.

The series against one of the Big Three provides an opportunity too good to waste for CSA to start generating some much-needed income after all cricket came to a standstill in March.

Despite this week’s series loss to Australia, England remain a powerhouse white-ball outfit and their tour could be one of the highlights of the summer, particularly since Sri Lanka will be the Test opposition over the traditional festive season schedule.

Then again, the Proteas have a score to settle with Sri Lanka, who became the first sub-continent team to win a series in South Africa with their shock 2-0 triumph in 2018/19.

South Africa’s cricketers will have four-day cricket in November and December in which to get up to full power, with the Momentum One-Day Cup scheduled for early next year. While the Mzansi Super League has reportedly been scrapped for this season due to the constraints of Lockdown, it is possible that a franchise T20 competition will be played to end the summer.

Boeta Dippenaar and Pat Symcox are two former cricketers I have admired and whose company I have enjoyed from time to time, but I hope their faces are as red as tomatoes after their ill-judged reactions to Lungi Ngidi’s comments that the Proteas need to make a stand against racial discrimination.

For the record, Ngidi was asked a direct question about the Black Lives Matter movement and whether the Proteas team would seek to support it as the West Indies and England sides have done in their return to action in the Southampton Test.

Ngidi said: “It’s definitely something we need to discuss in person but we are all well aware of what is going on. It’s something we have to address as a team, as a nation as well because we’ve had racial discrimination in the past. It’s something we need to take very seriously, we need to make a stand like the rest of the world.”

Now saying a stand should be made against racial discrimination is surely not something so divisive that the Proteas would be halved into different camps for and against? Surely Ngidi was standing for something everybody can support, like being against gender-based violence?

So why the furious reaction?

It was another former Protea, top-order batsman Rudolf Steyn, who fired the first shot with a social media post that read: “I believe the Proteas should make a stand against racism, but if they stand up for ‘black lives matter’ while ignoring the way white farmers are daily being ‘slaughtered’ like animals, they have lost my vote.”

Firstly, it has to be in very poor taste to start bartering over whether you will support someone else’s right to life depending on them supporting your cause. Yes, All Lives do Matter, but in the world as a whole, the priority has to be to ensure that the importance of Black Lives are upgraded so that we no longer see the shocking, senseless deaths of people like George Floyd and Collins Khosa.

If someone told you that their father had died of a heart attack, would you say “what about all the people who have died of cancer”? If someone asked you to support research into eliminating breast cancer, would you say “only if you support anti-HIV initiatives”?

By responding to a question about Black Lives Matter, it by no means suggests Ngidi is against any other lives mattering. In fact, a furious response to Black Lives Matter suggests an attitude that they don’t matter as much as other lives.

Both Symcox and Dippenaar then replied highlighting the plight of farmers and farm attacks. Also a worthy cause.

Many critics of Black Lives Matter say it has become politicised but this is also true, perhaps even more so, of Farm Attacks. According to AfriForum’s own figures, there were 57 farm murders in 2019 and, while every one of those deaths is a tragic injustice, to somehow extrapolate that into an organised campaign of racial genocide is ridiculous. In fact, 57 murders a year is quite close to the daily figure for all murders in our terribly violent country. The Transvaalse Landbou Unie released a statement this week saying there had been 26 farm murders so far this year.

Or do some lives take priority over others? Which I guess is exactly the point of Black Lives Matter. As West Indian great Michael Holding put it this week, we all know White Lives Matter, that has never been in doubt.

Cricket in general has often been halfhearted in responding to issues of social justice so the efforts of the English and West Indian teams, and even the ICC match officials, have been tremendous to see.

I was also impressed with how Cricket South Africa’s relatively new director of cricket, Graeme Smith, handled the grenade when it was tossed to him at the same press conference as Ngidi’s. He was a huge driver of diversity and inclusivity when he was a Proteas captain, but he has not been a ‘suit’ for that long and has had a couple of mishaps already when it comes to dealing with political issues.

Smith said: “We are all very aware of what is going on around the world and our role as CSA. When the team gets together again we will figure out how to play an effective role in the Black Lives Matter movement. It’s important to have buy-in and for everyone to be invested. I have no doubt that will be the case, but to have the discussion is important. There certainly needs to be something done and we will discuss various ways of handling it in an effective and authentic manner.”

And the Titans, who have won more domestic cups than any other franchise, have also led the way in responding to the cause. The squad unanimously agreed that coach Mandla Mashimbyi should issue the following statement:

“We know only too well how important the Black Lives Matter movement is. We bat vehemently against discrimination of any kind, and we will always strive to provide opportunities within our Titans family for all the colours and cultures of our rainbow nation. We also want to lend our voice to those shouting for the scourge of violence against our mothers, sisters and daughters to stop.

“The only way we can stand against evil is by showing acts of love to people no matter their race, religion or gender. We should see love as the foundation that helps us find solutions, find refuge and hope because love is the foundation of life. If we can begin to view things through the perspective of love before race, religion or gender we will move forward as a society,” Mashimbyi said.

In the wake of Duanne Olivier becoming the latest South African cricketer to drop the Kolpak bombshell, it would be only human for Cricket South Africa chief executive Thabang Moroe to be feeling betrayed and to be considering his options when it comes to ensuring that his organisation and the staff involved with the national teams don’t have to go through that pain again, never mind the considerable resources expended – and now wasted – on grooming a player to make a successful entry into international cricket.

Olivier was probably the good news story of the summer, getting a prolonged run in the national team thanks to injuries to Lungi Ngidi and then Vernon Philander, and his immediate success prompted the Proteas brainstrust to take drastic steps to keep him in the side: World-class spinner Keshav Maharaj was sidelined and they even went into some games a batsman short, further weakening an already struggling batting line-up, just to ensure their new-found Enforcer could keep charging in and taking wickets.

The falling-over-backwards continued at board level as Olivier was offered a two-year contract, something highly unusual. The fact that everyone else only received a one-year contract when the new deals were announced on Friday shows just how obliging they were trying to be to the 26-year-old Free State fast bowler.

And then it turns out that all the time he was talking about his Proteas achievements being a dream come true and how proud he was, all the time he was negotiating with CSA for a two-year contract, he had already decided to sign a lucrative Kolpak deal with Yorkshire.

South African cricket has been through this betrayal before of course, with Kyle Abbott and Rilee Rossouw jumping ship midway through the previous home series against Sri Lanka in January 2017. Abbott had spent the previous weeks gushing about how delighted he was to be finally getting a prolonged run for the Proteas while Rossouw, after CSA had spent huge amounts of medical bills on him and persisted with through one of the worst duck-laden starts to an international career, merely dumped his employees with barely a word spoken.

This is not a Kolpak move like Morne Morkel’s, who, after more than 10 years of service to South African cricket, decided his body could no longer take the grind of the international game and nobody bemoaned him giving his pension a well-earned boost in England.

Olivier is in his prime, has played just 10 Tests and two ODIs, and Ottis Gibson and Faf du Plessis have very much been making plans for the future around having him in the fast bowling pool.

Olivier is, of course, represented and managed by an agent, Weber van Wyk. Who just happens to be the same agent who organised the Kolpak deals for Abbott and Rossouw, hence the same scarcely ethical modus operandi that clearly cannot be termed ‘negotiating in good faith’. Van Wyk has earned a fortune exporting South African talent to England.

If you were the CEO of a multimillion rand company that spends millions on developing their key assets, only to see them up-and-leave as soon as they get promoted to a level that makes them attractive to others, what would you do? If the same person was behind three of your prize assets leaving, would you reconsider having any dealings with that agent or his clientele ever again?

When Olivier was called up to replace Abbott for the third Test against Sri Lanka in 2017, he told CricInfo: “I want to play as long as possible for my country. When I am playing, I don’t think about stuff off the field. I haven’t considered a Kolpak deal.”

Who would have thought he would follow Abbott so closely and so quickly, swelling his pockets but surely to the detriment of his standing in the game.

Sadly, we have seen this lack of patriotism stretch to rugby circles in Bloemfontein as well. Apart from the despicable shenanigans of Johan Goosen in retiring from the game for a year just to get out of a recently-extended mega-millions contract in France, so he could sign an even bigger contract with a rival club, a school like Grey College is not even pretending to support South African rugby anymore, having signed an exclusive deal with Goosen’s Montpellier club to feed players into their – and therefore France’s – pipeline.

Money can buy many things, but it will never be able to buy respect.

Cricket South Africa (CSA) released the schedule for the 2018/19 home international season on Monday and they have entrusted SuperSport Park in Centurion with trying to make a success of the Boxing Day Test against Pakistan.

The Test match starting on December 26 is one of the marquee fixtures on the South African calendar but it has been played in front of dwindling crowds on the coast since 1966, when the Australians were put to the sword by Denis Lindsay at the Wanderers in a match that started on December 23 and had a rest day on Christmas Day.

“It’s a privilege to host the Boxing Day Test which is an important date on the cricket calendar and we are thankful to be selected because there are only so many matches and it’s all up to CSA. People go for marquee events these days and there is a lot of sport on offer, but a lot of people are off work at that time and there are a lot of people still in Gauteng, so hopefully we will still get the good support we generally get at SuperSport Park,” Titans CEO Jacques Faul told The Citizen on Monday.

“I think it’s not been as successful as CSA had hoped hosting Tests at the coastal venues, it’s only really Newlands that has had good crowds. It’s a bit nervewracking but exciting to see whether we can get the benefit of not just having two weekend days to target but four or five days. Pakistan are also a well-supported and talented team.

“We’ll certainly give it a go and hopefully not let anyone down, attendances have always been very good at our stadium, but the proof will be in the pudding,” Faul said.

To lessen the blow to Durban and Port Elizabeth, they will host the two Tests against Sri Lanka in February, while Newlands and the Wanderers will host the other two Pakistan Tests.

ZIMBABWE TOUR ITINERARY 2018

September 30: 10h00, 1^st Momentum ODI, Diamond Oval, Kimberley (Day)

October 3: 13h00, 2^nd Momentum ODI, Mangaung Oval, Bloemfontein (D/N)

October 6: 13h00, 3^rd Momentum ODI, Eurolux Boland Park, Paarl (D/N)

October 9: 18h00, 1^st KFC T20 International, Buffalo Park, East London (D/N)

October 12: 18h00, 2^nd KFC T20 International, Senwes Park, Potchefstroom (D/N)

October 14: 14h30, 3^rd KFC T20 International, Willowmoore Park, Benoni (Day)

PAKISTAN TOUR ITINERARY 2018/19

December 19-21: 10h00, Three-day tour match v SA Invitation XI, Willowmoore Park, Benoni

December 26-30: 10h00, 1^st Sunfoil Test match, SuperSport Park, Centurion

January 3-7: 10h30, 2^nd Sunfoil Test match, PPC Newlands, Cape Town

January 11-15: 10h00, 3^rd Sunfoil Test match, Bidvest Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg

January 19: 13h00, 1^st Momentum ODI, St. George’s Park, Port Elizabeth (D/N)

January 22: 13h00, 2^nd Momentum ODI, Kingsmead, Durban (D/N)

January 25: 13h00, 3^rd Momentum ODI, SuperSport Park, Centurion (D/N)

January 27: 10h00, 4^th Momentum ODI, Bidvest Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg (Day)

January 30: 13h00, 5^th Momentum ODI, PPC Newlands, Cape Town (D/N)

February 1: 18h00, 1^st KFC T20 International, PPC Newlands, Cape Town (D/N)

February 3: 14h30, 2^nd KFC T20 International, Bidvest Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg (Day)

February 6: 18h00, 3^rd KFC T20 International, SuperSport Park, Centurion (D/N)

SRI LANKA TOUR ITINERARY 2019

February 13-17: 10h00, 1^st Sunfoil Test match, Kingsmead, Durban

February 21-25: 10h00, 2^nd Sunfoil Test match, St. George’s Park, Port Elizabeth

February 28: 10h00, One-Day tour match v SA Invitation XI, Willowmoore Park, Benoni (Day)

March 3: 10h00, 1^st Momentum ODI, Bidvest Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg (Day)

March 6: 13h00, 2^nd Momentum ODI, SuperSport Park, Centurion (D/N)

March 10: 10h00, 3^rd Momentum ODI, Kingsmead, Durban (Day)

March 13: 13h00, 4^th Momentum ODI, St. George’s Park, Port Elizabeth (D/N)

March 16: 13h00, 5^th Momentum ODI, PPC Newlands, Cape Town (D/N)

March 19: 18h00, 1^st KFC T20 International, PPC Newlands, Cape Town (D/N)

March 22: 18h00, 2^nd KFC T20 International, SuperSport Park, Centurion (D/N)

March 24: 14h30, 3^rd KFC T20 International, Bidvest Wanderers Stadium (Day)

https://www.pressreader.com/south-africa/the-citizen-gauteng/20180424/282024737865818