Ken Borland

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.

Richard Pybus has been one of the real legends of domestic coaching in South Africa, having won nine trophies with the Titans and Cape Cobras franchises, but he began his career guiding lowly Border into a position where they were competitive against the big guns of local cricket. So when the former Pakistan and West Indies coach says plans to change the domestic structure, increasing the top level to 12 provincial teams, are not addressing the true problems in South African cricket then his views should be considered seriously.

“It’s a terrible idea,” Pybus said of the plan to do away with the six franchises at the top table of domestic cricket. “They are trying to fix the wrong thing. The issue is the administration of the game and not franchise cricket. Why are Cricket South Africa in their current financial position? They should review that. Why pull apart a highly effective system, the same sort of model that has given Australia consistent success?

“The issue is not our model but getting our administration right. Our problems are not about the franchise game, that’s giving us what is needed, which is incredible competition, the best 66 players in the country going up against each other. The franchise system was directly responsible and supported our national team getting to number one. We want strength versus excellence, not to dilute that,” Pybus told The Citizen from his house in Hermanus.

The 55-year-old Pybus said the domestic system needed to reflect the differences between the high-performance needs of the Proteas pipeline and those of growing the game.

“Our cricket has lots of layers and it needs to be clearer whether those layers serve the recreational game or the Proteas, with a lot of layers not really serving either of them. A lot of our cricket should not be professional and any changes should be about strengthening that level. We have a brilliant, multi-cultural game and it also needs to be inclusive.

“The development programme does have some issues, there are not enough players coming from Black communities, but that has nothing to do with franchise cricket. There are geographical and historical reasons for those issues. Coaching is also a real problem and it will take a generation to transform that because we have pushed all our senior coaches out, that intellectual capital is gone,” Pybus said.

A quick question, if you will.
When did the position of Springbok captain become downgraded to one in which the office-bearer is not allowed to speak on matters of major national interest, especially in terms of rugby?
The furore that has greeted Siya Kolisi’s comments on transformation and quotas has been rife with suggestions that it is not his place to talk about such matters.
Which is absolute nonsense.
I would far rather listen to Kolisi’s views on the subject because he is most affected by it; as a player he is at the coalface of the whole transformation debate. I would far rather listen to Kolisi, surely the embodiment of what transformation hopes to achieve, than either a politician, who lies most of the time and is unwilling to actually do the hard work required to change our society, or an administrator, who in this country is generally self-serving and sadly divorced from the realities of professional sport.
It’s typical of our easily distracted political discourse that everyone has focused on Kolisi’s comments about Nelson Mandela not supporting quotas. It’s not a viewpoint I agree with, my recollection of the 1990s being that Mandela certainly supported efforts to ensure all-White teams did not represent South Africa anymore.
But it’s not the most important thing Kolisi was saying. With respect to the late great Madiba, who did more for sports unity in this country than anyone, his views on quotas are really not relevant anymore. Our society, by and large, has changed so much.
And yet the demographics of our national teams (excluding football) still don’t really reflect this. And it’s because of the other, way more important, issues that Kolisi raised.
It’s hard to believe sometimes when you see the super-athlete that Kolisi has become, and how inspiring and authoritative a figure he is when speaking, that he grew up in poverty. Taking the big hits on a rugby field is probably nothing compared to the feelings of hunger and hopelessness he must have felt before rugby so dramatically changed his life.
Kolisi mentions in his interview with Kyodo News that if he hadn’t have been given a bursary to Grey High in Port Elizabeth he would never have been a professional rugby player, never mind Springbok captain.
South African sport – and especially our rapaciously opportunistic politicians and administrators – owes our Model C schools a tremendous debt of gratitude because they have mostly been driving transformation ever since the 1990s.
Which brings us to the crux of Kolisi’s comments. He is one of the fortunate few to be given the opportunity to fulfil his God-given talent and he made the most of it through tremendous hard work and strength of character. But what of the millions of other township kids who are lost?
One cannot expect them to compete on a level playing field when they are struggling for regular meals, they have no facilities and even getting to practices and games is a major issue.
This is where transformation should be focused and not on the numbers that are so beloved by two-faced, box-ticking politicians and administrators.
It is a sad fact though that many White South Africans have a tough time rating Black players fairly, and Kolisi will no doubt be aware that there are some who believe he is not worthy of his place in the Springbok team.
To blindly stick to a quota system and to not concentrate efforts on ensuring there is a level playing field – equal opportunity – all through the pipeline, is only going to feed into that sort of bigotry.
Our Black sportspeople don’t need quotas to make it; they just need fair opportunity and a level playing field. But that’s going to take hard work from our grandstanding politicians and administrators.

South Africa’s second innings is still under construction, but even with half their wickets gone and only 135 runs on the board, they are still in a commanding position after the second day of the third Test against Pakistan at the Wanderers.

That was chiefly thanks to another demolition job by Duanne Olivier, their wrecker-in-chief in this series win, the 26-year-old Central Knights fast bowler taking five for 51 as Pakistan were bowled out for just 185, a first-innings deficit of 77.

Olivier has now taken 21 wickets in the three Tests, at the ridiculous average of just 13.28. He has broken Dale Steyn’s record for the most wickets for South Africa in a series against Pakistan – 20 in 2012/13, which included 11 for 60 in the corresponding Johannesburg Test.

South Africa’s batsmen did not fare much better in their second innings, but there is plenty of movement, both in the air and off the pitch, on offer at the Wanderers, and with a lead of 212 already in the bag, a couple of lower-order partnerships should take the target beyond Pakistan’s reach.

Despite their dominant position, the second day was far from the usual standards set by the Proteas. The first hour of play, after Pakistan had resumed on 17 for two, was particularly scrappy as South Africa dropped four catches, missed a couple of run outs and wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock, who dropped two of them, also missed a stumping, albeit an extremely tough one down the leg-side standing up to Vernon Philander.

Just to add to the sense of calamity, there were 8 runs gifted through overthrows, captain Dean Elgar dropped another catch soon after the lunch break and Dale Steyn left the field rubbing the shoulder that started all his injury problems.

Opener Imam-ul-Haq and Mohammad Abbas took Pakistan to 53 for two at the first drinks break and the Proteas’ huddle was an intense one.

The change in fortunes was spearheaded by Olivier, who took two wickets in four balls in the first over after the break. Abbas, who had done the staunchest of jobs with 11 runs in 88 minutes, was taken in the slips by Theunis de Bruyn as he drove listlessly and then Asad Shafiq (0) showed terrible technique against the short delivery, just ducking without any idea where the ball was, and gloving a looping catch to the wicketkeeper.

Pakistan were back in trouble on 53 for four and when Elgar snapped up a sharp catch behind the wicket to dismiss Imam for a two-and-a-half hour 43, they were teetering on 91 for five.

But Babar Azam (49) and captain Sarfraz Ahmed (50) decided to react with a courageous counter-attack, bashing 75 runs in the next 10 overs. For them, there was no debate over whether to play or leave deliveries outside off stump, they went for them all.

Being so aggressive against such a high-quality attack is unlikely to succeed in the long-term, and Sarfraz fell two balls after reaching his second successive half-century, wafting outside off stump and edging Kagiso Rabada into the slips.

With Azam being dismissed in the next over, caught at fine leg hooking Olivier, Pakistan’s resistance was over as the last five wickets fell for just 16 runs.

Olivier was well-supported by Philander, who took three for 43 in 13 overs, while Rabada weighed in with two for 41.

Elgar was again caught behind by wicketkeeper Sarfraz (on his way to a Pakistan-record eight dismissals in the match against South Africa) for five, this time off Mohammad Amir, but the Proteas had reached 25 for one by tea, stretching their lead to 102.

But Markram was sent packing by Abbas in the first over after the break, also caught behind by Sarfraz as he was undone by his strength – his driving ability – on 21.

South Africa were then rocked by a double-strike by Faheem Ashraf in his first over.

Theunis de Bruyn (7) disappointed by trying to drive a delivery that was not full enough and edging to slip, while Zubayr Hamza fell lbw for a duck second ball as Faheem hit a crack and the ball barely rose shin-high. Such deliveries are almost impossible to play, but it also showed the magnitude of the task Pakistan are facing batting last.

Tough runs are Temba Bavuma’s speciality and he scored 23 in adding 48 for the fifth wicket with Hashim Amla, before leg-spinner Shadab Khan spun a delivery sharply across him and had him caught behind.

South Africa were 93 for five, but Quinton de Kock was as fluent as ever as he stroked a run-a-ball 34 not out to provide a quick boost to the lead late in the day.

The home side are also fortunate to still have Amla at the crease, holding the innings together with 42 not out. The veteran batsman has already been at the crease for 164 minutes and was close to his imperturbable best.

Against a South African attack that has been completely dominant all series, if the lead grows to more than 300, the chances of a 3-0 series whitewash for the Proteas are highly probable.

Even scoring at an unlikely five runs an over, that would mean batting for at least 60 overs, something Pakistan have only managed once in five innings in the series.