Ken Borland

John Mogodi of Limpopo, Daniel Govender of KZN, Craig Nel of Mpumalanga, Tebogo Siko of Northerns and Simphiwe Ndzundza of Border are the people elected by the Cricket South Africa Members Council, the body that pushed the sport in this country to the edge of the precipice before eventually seeing some sense, to the new Board that will run cricket.

Of those five, it is fair to say Nel and Siko are the only two who have not been opposed to the efforts of the Interim Board and, by extension, the sports minister, to rescue cricket from being flushed down the toilet. While that reflects on the embarrassing quality of leadership on the Members Council, it is a relief that the new Board appointed this week will be dominated by eight independent directors and there is plenty of leadership, financial and legal expertise and governance experience amongst that lot.

Andrew Hudson, whose post-playing career has been centred on the banking world, is the only director with top-level cricket experience and it perhaps would have been nice if more former players had been appointed.

And the lack of female representation is an even bigger blot on the Board. Independent director Ntambi Ravele and acting chief financial officer Christelle Janse van Rensburg are the only two women out of a board of 15, and that’s even after sports minister Nathi Mthethwa made it clear that he wanted to see a greater push towards gender equality.

It is typical of the double-speak nature of the Members Council that president Rihan Richards should speak of their full commitment to greater female representation and then, when the vote was tied for the fifth non-independent director’s post between Anne Vilas and Simphiwe Ndzundzu, they chose the man.

And Ndzundzu is not just any man. He is president of one of the most dysfunctional provinces on and off the field, and someone who is being investigated over a charge of assault involving the elderly mother of a colleague he had a dispute with as well as a broken arm for his rival’s sister.

And Vilas is not just any woman. Acknowledged as one of the best administrators in South African cricket and very successful in business, as president of Central Gauteng Lions she has overseen their rise to arguably the best team in the country.

So it is fair to say that there will still be small pockets of resistance to progress in South African cricket, but hopefully our cricketing family can start to heal. CSA has been a dysfunctional organisation and the events of the last few years have demoralised so many people involved in the game. Good leadership was replaced by an environment of suspicion.

Hopefully this new Board can bring some much-needed stability after their predecessors did so much to kill the hopes and dreams of young cricket fans. Critical to that becoming a reality is for the right person to be elected chair of the Board and also whoever represents CSA at the International Cricket Council requires much thought.

It’s been a depressing time for those cricket lovers looking for moral leadership as the CSA Board and incompetent Members Council were captured by vested interests and a downright crooked culture developed in the running of the game. But this new, majority independent board will hopefully ensure good governance.

Cricket’s governance issues have, without a doubt, affected the on-field performance of the men’s national team as well, but after a lean period, the victory in the first Test against the West Indies provided some encouraging signs that the Proteas might just be regaining their mojo.

So let the healing begin, and thank you to the six members of the Interim Board for their top-class work which saw their vital task through to completion, shouldering a massive burden in the process.

With the first-choice Springbok pack hit by injuries, it makes little sense for the squad for the British and Irish Lions series to be loaded with outside backs, but that’s exactly what coach Jacques Nienaber and director of rugby Rassie Erasmus have done.

Their 46-strong Springbok squad contains eight outside backs, the most well-stocked department of all with one more player than either the loose forwards or props. The allocation of seven loose forwards includes Duane Vermeulen, who suffered what looked like a serious ankle injury at the weekend, and amongst the six locks named for the series, two of them – Lood de Jager and RG Snyman – are still injured.

There are two utility forwards included in Jean-Luc du Preez and Rynhardt Elstadt, but the cynical might surmise that the outside backs have been overstocked in order to get the transformation numbers up – there is only one White player amongst the back three in fullback Willie le Roux.

“Local derbies are like Springbok trials and when you play strength versus strength week in, week out, like the Rainbow Cup has been, then you expect a number of injuries. So every weekend has been quite nervous for us, fortunately there haven’t been too many injuries, but there are many niggles in the squad. We’ll have to reassess after the first couple of weeks.

“But the good thing is our local players will be used to physical rugby, which will be a big part of the Lions series. The big question is when is a player 100% ready for Test rugby, when do we experiment? We play Georgia twice, but we have not played together since the World Cup, so we don’t want to experiment there,” Erasmus said.

Erasmus admitted that he was not optimistic that Vermeulen will be available for the Lions series, and the uncapped Jasper Wiese is likely to replace him at eighthman, with the World Cup winning coach saying the 25-year-old’s form for the Leicester Tigers in the English Premiership cannot be ignored.

“Duane has to be doubtful with his ankle. He’s on his way to Cape Town for scans. I spoke to Jake White [Bulls coach] and it looked bad. For Duane to limp off so early in a match is very unusual, so we are fearing the worst,” Erasmus admitted.

“But Jasper Wiese can play eighthman and we cannot ignore the form he is in, he was outstanding in the Premiership and he knocked the door down weekly. He is explosive and we’re really lucky that he’s versatile, he can play openside as well.”

In just 14 Premiership appearances, the former Free State Cheetahs player has made 701 running metres, beaten 54 defenders, has a 90% tackle success rate and has made eightline-breaks.

Keegan Petersen says there have been nerves and excitement, gratitude and a sense of privilege, but no frustration during his lengthy time in the Proteas squad without actually playing in a match, which looks set to come to an end in the Caribbean.

South Africa take on the West Indies in the first Test from June 10 and there is a vacancy in the batting line-up with Faf du Plessis having retired. And new captain Dean Elgar only mentioned Petersen when he was asked last weekend about who was in the mix to replace the former captain.

“It’s been a while being in the squad, but it doesn’t feel like a long time because it is always so nice coming into this environment. It’s a higher level of professionalism and it’s a privilege to be here. So it hasn’t required much patience, I’m just grateful to be here and there hasn’t been any frustration. But I have been nervous for a while and I get goosebumps just thinking about making my debut.

“I know I’ll have big boots to fill and when your dream becomes a reality, it gives your system a bit of a shock. I don’t know how selection is going to go, but I am extremely excited to represent my country and it would mean the world to my family. We are very close and tight-knit, and my pride is their pride and my tears are their tears. This is what I dreamed of as a kid,” Petersen said.

The 27-year-old had to leave his family in Paarl to make those cricketing dreams come true, and he said he was pleased the winding road of his career had brought him to Durban and playing for the champion Dolphins side.

“It’s been an up-and-down journey from Paarl to Bloemfontein to Durban. So I’ve gone from coast to coast, it’s been a long journey. I’ve been in the first-class system for almost 10 years, so I’ve been around. So it would mean a lot to get a go on this tour because I know the journey has been tough and long, this is what I’ve worked for, why I play cricket.

“I like to think I’ve built a reputation over the last couple of years in domestic cricket and I’ve learnt a lot since joining the Dolphins, it has expanded my game in testing conditions in Durban. Kingsmead has prepared me for any slow or turning pitch because that’s all we get there to be honest. It’s a spinning wicket and I know I’ll be prepared for whatever I get in the Caribbean,” Petersen said.

Aiden Markram said on Wednesday that there was no sense of disappointment in being overlooked for the Proteas Test captaincy – and the broad grin he wore when he said it was an obvious sign of relief – and instead he threw his full weight behind the leadership of Dean Elgar, saying it will carry the same hallmarks of his batting.

Markram, who lost his place in the South African side in 2019, has just regained his best form, capped by the magnificent 204 not out he scored for the Titans against the Knights in the 4-Day Domestic Series match between the pool leaders in Centurion on Wednesday. Now that he has confirmed his place in the Test side, there had been speculation that he could be appointed as the full-time successor to Quinton de Kock.

That honour, however, fell to his Titans opening partner Elgar, who scored 90 as they shared a record first-wicket stand of 213, and Markram can now focus on churning out runs as he is doing in such prolific fashion at the moment. He is now the leading run-scorer in the four-day competition with 781 at 97.62, plus he has made 336 Test runs at an average of 56 this summer.

“There is certainly no disappointment. My focus was not on the captaincy, it was all on whatever team I’m playing for and scoring runs for them. I’m over the moon for Dean, we have come quite a way together, he’s a great leader who sets really high standards and demands a lot of his team-mates. Between him and Temba Bavuma [vice-captain], I wish them all the best and look forward to their eras in charge.

“Dean’s captaincy is very similar to the way he bats: he never throws in the towel, he never gives up, he’ll fight tooth-and-nail for every inch. He expects a lot from the team and will certainly never settle for anything below-par or mediocre. The whole Titans team is over the moon for him. He adds massive value in our changeroom and that of the Proteas as well,” Markram said at SuperSport Park on Wednesday.

Markram’s wonderful summer ended a period of immense frustration for the 26-year-old as he could not build on the tremendous promise he showed in scoring a thousand runs in his first year of Test cricket.

“I was happy to spend some more time in the middle and it’s just how sport works I guess: You have your phases when you struggle and I went through a really rough 12-18 months. But that gives you extra hunger and motivation and when you get in you really want to go to town. Because you never know what’s going to happen next week …

“So I’m keeping my feet on the ground, but I feel like I have a bit more clarity at the crease now. Every batsman wants to score a double at some stage and I’ve learnt once I get in to never give it away. You have to try and get yourself out as few times as possible and I’m very relieved that the Titans were able to get out of this match with the draw,” Markram said.