Ken Borland

Hot on the heels of the new Cricket South Africa board protesting that they inherited the mess that was the Social Justice and Nation-Building hearings, there is a second legacy of the old, disgraced board that may also cause them strife in the coming months.

I do have some sympathy for chairman Lawson Naidoo and his fellow directors when they ask with some frustration, in the wake of CSA’s embarrassing arbitration loss to Graeme Smith, “What were we supposed to do?”

The fact that SJN ombudsman Dumisa Ntsebeza chose only to make “tentative findings” on “untested evidence”, but was quite happy to make public claims of racism (surely the most damaging allegation against a White South African), meant CSA were almost damned if they do, damned if they don’t.

If they failed to further investigate the SJN allegations, then they would have been accused of ignoring the systemic racism that no doubt was part of our cricket in previous decades. But by acting on the claims against Smith, they left themselves open to criticisms of a witch-hunt and slander because the evidence was so flimsy.

Naidoo and fellow director Steven Budlender, the noted advocate, defended themselves in a Daily Maverick article this week, but what they did not mention was the way CSA’s legal representatives handled themselves in the arbitration, being criticised by the officials for “changing their tack” in the middle of the hearings and “trying to trap Smith”.

Little wonder costs were awarded against CSA.

Because the SJN was not properly set up to hear and test such inflammatory evidence in a better-controlled legal environment, the previous board certainly left Naidoo and Co with an explosive booby-trap.

The other decision of the previous board that is now causing some unhappiness in cricket circles is the automatic promotion/relegation that will apply at the end of next summer and see one of the top eight teams go down to the second division.

At the moment, one of Northern Cape, KZN Inland or South-Western Districts look set to be promoted. The Free State Knights, based in Bloemfontein, are bottom of the Division One relegation standings, with North-West (Potchefstroom) and the KZN Dolphins (Durban) tied second-from-bottom. Even teams like Western Province (Cape Town) and the Eastern Province Warriors (PE) have anxious times ahead as they are only lead the Knights by 10 points.

Do CSA really want one of those major centres to miss out as the likes of Kimberley, Pietermaritzburg or Oudtshoorn have a Division One team instead?

The problem with automatic promotion/relegation is that it is unlikely, barring a mass defection of players, that the team coming up will be better than the side going down, given the quality of cricket played in Division II.

There are many good reasons to ensure teams in the lower division can work their way up into the premier section, but the majority of fans do not want to see the Dolphins, Western Province or the Central Gauteng Lions playing in the second league. Imagine iconic stadiums like Newlands, the Wanderers or Kingsmead not hosting the best domestic players?

The only reason teams like KZN or the Lions, who would have been involved in the relegation battle before their surprise victory in the One-Day Cup right at the end of the season, would find themselves in danger of going down is because they provide most of the Proteas team.

There are many who feel automatic promotion/relegation is there to ensure the smaller unions, whose votes are often like the tail wagging the dog, share a place at the top table for at least one season before themselves being demoted.

I know CSA have a lot on their plate, but tweaking this system to ensure the Division II winners are only promoted if they beat the bottom side in Division I, is hopefully going to become a priority.

Marco Jansen announced himself in the IPL back in April, but over the next couple of months the six-foot-eight 21-year-old could really burst on to the international scene as he is tipped to make his Test debut against India, either on Boxing Day or in the New Year.

And the good news is that Jansen is in fine form, having shone during the SA A series against India A that ended last week. In six first-class matches this summer for Eastern Province Warriors and SA A, he has taken 17 wickets at an average of 20.29. On a flat Bloemfontein pitch, Jansen troubled the India A batsmen more than his returns suggested.

“I was very pleased with how that series went because Bloemfontein is not easy for seam bowlers,” Jansen told The Citizen on Monday. “I just tried to be as consistent as possible.

“Fortunately I played a bit of four-day cricket before the series and it’s all about consistency otherwise you won’t get that rhythm or be on a good run. I’m bowling well at the moment because I’m consistent and hopefully I get to play one or two games for the Proteas.”

Growing up in Potchefstroom and starting his professional career in Bloemfontein, Jansen has certainly honed his skills on the sort of good batting pitches you get at Test level.

“When I look at a pitch and realise that it’s flat, I try and take responsibility and be as consistent as possible in terms of where I land the ball and how much energy I put in.

“Growing up in Potch, it was easy to get deflated and not give 100% all the time. But the players in Bloem helped me and I developed a new mindset – not to shy away, to go harder when it’s flat, be even more consistent and bowl with more energy,” Jansen said.

Having played for Mumbai Indians this year and now taken on India A, Jansen has plenty of intel in the memory bank for when the Test team arrives.

“It helps to know how they think and I know most of them. If I do get a chance to play against them, then you want to play better than them. You look forward to it especially because you know them.

“Someone like Hanuma Vihari, man he faced a lot of balls in the SA A/India A series! When I hear his name, I just see balls and balls. We actually chatted a lot and he batted really well in those conditions.

“We spent a lot of time joking around too and I told him that there will be a bit more bounce in Pretoria and Johannesburg, there’s no other pitch like Bloem in the country. I told him he better get his plans together!”

Likewise, Proteas fans can bank on Jansen, if he does make his debut, having both a plan and great form to rely upon.

After five months on the road, travelling from the Caribbean to Ireland, the subcontinent and then to Arabia, the Proteas can finally look forward to playing some cricket at home for the next couple of months.

They might not have won the T20 World Cup or even made the semi-finals, but it has been quite a while since there has been so much positivity around the performance of the team.

As ever in sport, patience has been rewarded and, as consistency in selection has led to a settled squad, so the performances have been getting better and better.

Few would argue that rebuilding the Proteas into a force on the international stage was an onerous task given how low fortunes had sunk a couple of years ago, partly caused by a great generation of players retiring and partly by all the turmoil in the Cricket South Africa boardroom.

But there is an old saying that “teamwork divides the task and multiplies the success” and perhaps the most important thing to come out of the T20 World Cup had little to do with game-plans or individual performances: To see a South African team playing with that old never-say-die spirit, to see the passion they displayed on the field and the unity of purpose they showed as a squad, makes one believe that the glory days could be back soon.

The resilience and togetherness of this team was illustrated by the way they pulled together in the wake of the Quinton de Kock saga; the star player’s ill-judged actions could well have ripped the team apart, but instead it brought them closer together. De Kock was never hung out to dry on his own either.

It was disappointing to see the new board display the same sort of reactive, uninspiring leadership as their awful predecessors, but it is probably their first mis-step and they did move quickly to tidy up their mess.

In the midst of that upheaval, Temba Bavuma stood tall and showed that he is prime leadership material to help take the Proteas forward over the next five years.

The Black Lives Matter movement and the importance of the Proteas making a unified gesture of support continues to provide grist to the mill of the media and the woke, and Bavuma’s comments on the matter when they returned home were pure quality.

“It’s about how it translates into everyday life. We can all raise our fist or go down on our knee, but deep down in the heart, if we are not for the cause and we don’t show it in our everyday living, then you have to question the authenticity.

“The South African team was put under immense pressure, more than any other team, which I think was unfair. Not enough acknowledgement has been given to this team because people don’t get to hear the conversations we have had behind closed doors.

“The decision about Black Lives Matter has to be a collective one. We should avoid things being dictated to the team. Our country has big, big problems and that’s where our energy should be focused,” Bavuma said.

Although the Proteas captain was too polite to mention it, I’m sure he also rages about the unfair criticism of the Proteas batting strike-rate. Yes, T20 is generally a game where batsmen are meant to go berserk, but it is frustrating that critics don’t realise that conditions in the UAE were not conducive to rampant batting.

New Zealand have roared into Sunday’s final, but their key batsmen have had strike-rates not too dissimilar to those of the Proteas: Daryl Mitchell 140.71 v Aiden Markram 145.94; Martin Guptill 131.38 v David Miller 133.33; Kane Williamson 94.24 v Bavuma 108.33; Devon Conway 108.40 v Rassie van der Dussen 116.44.

With a massive series coming up against India, for the blinkered it’s time to stop being angry with the Proteas and instead roar out our support, especially since crowds will be allowed back into the stadiums.

Cricket-lovers in Kimberley can look forward to being the first spectators to resume watching live cricket at the ground, with CSA confirming that they are finalising plans to have a crowd in attendance for the first time since the Covid virus spread uncontrollably through the country 19 months ago at next week’s T20 Provincial Knockout Cup.

With government having now given permission for up to 2000 spectators to be allowed as long as all Covid procedures and precautions are followed, cricket is likely to be the second sport to open its doors, after 2000 vaccinated fans were able to watch Bafana Bafana beat Ethiopia 1-0 in their World Cup qualifier earlier this week in Soweto.

The CSA T20 Provincial Knockout Cup resumes with the quarterfinals on Tuesday at the Diamond Oval.

“Chances are that we will have our first set of spectators for the finals,” a CSA spokesperson confirmed to The Citizen on Wednesday evening. “We are finalising the logistics and we should be making an announcement soon.”

Tuesday’s action sees South-Western Districts take on the Northerns Titans, and then the Free State Knights, who used to have Kimberley as one of their home venues, play Western Province. KZN Dolphins versus Eastern Province Warriors and Boland Rocks against North-West Dragons are the other quarterfinals, both to be played on Wednesday.

The semi-finals will then take place on Thursday and then the final will be held on Friday.

SA Rugby announced earlier on Wednesday that fully vaccinated supporters will be allowed to attend both club and professional matches from now on. But the four franchises are all overseas playing in the United Rugby Championship and the first senior professional rugby match to be open to spectators is likely to be on November 6 at Loftus Versfeld when the Carling Champion XV take on Kenya.