Ken Borland

Recently-retired Proteas hero JP Duminy was first chosen for South Africa in 2004 and he says the honour of first representing his national team was spoilt by the “eye-opening” divisions he saw in the squad back then.

“I acknowledge that when I made my first-class debut for Western Province in 2002, the main reason I was selected was not necessarily based on performance, I was 17 years old and seen as a talented youngster with potential. I wasn’t a victim in the cricket structures, I got opportunity based on the colour of my skin, that kickstarted my career and two-and-a-half years later I was representing South Africa.

“My family and I were ecstatic but my experience on that 2004 tour of Sri Lanka was quite an eye-opener, the team was so fragmented, all in different groupings. I needed to find my comfort zone because I was very fortunate in my upbringing that I never really experienced Apartheid, my family shielded me. So I came into the national team all excited and wanting to engage. But the tour did not go well and I was left out for a while.

“We had no idea what it meant to come together and represent something bigger than ourselves, we all just gravitated to our own cultural groups. Outside the game, we were certainly segregated. I wanted to explore new relationships, asking people ‘Can I go out to dinner with you?’ You need your team-mates to be successful and it was only in 2010 that we took cognisance of that,” Duminy told a recent Ahmed Kathrada Foundation webinar on racism in cricket.

Duminy’s graduation to top-class Proteas batsman came on the 2008/9 tour of Australia and although he admits to probably not fulfilling his true potential in Test cricket, he became one of South Africa’s best and most enduring white-ball cricketers. He was there in the thick of things when the Proteas changed their culture to become more inclusive and embrace diversity under the captaincy of Graeme Smith.

“We had a culture camp in which Ahmed Kathrada himself shared his experiences. Those were the kind of stories we needed to hear to understand where we came from. Even now, people have probably still not healed and we can’t move on until we acknowledge that people have been hurt. How Lungi Ngidi was treated speaks volumes for what still happens in this country.

“I played 326 games for my country so I had my opportunity. People obviously saw a lot of ability and you can ask ‘Did I fulfil my talent?’ Probably not in Test cricket, but the white-ball numbers are there. I have seen things happen, just not necessarily to me. But I have been on the field when others have been emotionally abused in how they were spoken to.

“An example was batting with Ashwell Prince in a provincial game and he received harsh words, including the K-word. But the type of character he is, it just fuelled him to show them what he can do. Why I did not speak up is an important reflection for me and it’s probably because I was in a fortunate position, I was benefiting. I need to take responsibility for that,” Duminy said.

The elegant left-hander now wants to nurture grassroots talent through his JP21 Foundation and he says transformation needs to move away from merely ticking boxes.

“Transformation has become a humungous topic but do we really understand what it means? A tick-box scenario means the game is not going to transform, that’s an external focus and it needs to be internal, hearts need to transform. Transformation represents opportunity, not just a name on a sheet of paper, which unfortunately has been the government approach.

“The foundation used to have a bursary scheme but I’ve come to realise that is not the way to go because it takes those kids out of their comfort zone. We need to plough back into their own communities, ensure they have better facilities and coaching. There is not enough focus on grassroots and we are trying to revive the game in local communities. There are millions spent on transformation and these funds need to be used properly,” Duminy said.

Former Proteas all-rounder and current Warriors coach Robin Peterson says he felt like he was one of the first Black players to be ‘planted’ in South African domestic cricket after unity and one of his first experiences was being called a “K…..” by his favourite cricketer growing up.

Peterson made his first-class debut in January 1999 for Eastern Province B and went on to play 183 franchise games for the Warriors, Cape Cobras and Knights, as well as representing South Africa in 15 Tests, 79 ODIs and 21 T20 Internationals.

“I was probably one of the first players of colour to be planted in the system, I say ‘planted’ because it felt like that. When I played for Eastern Province, there were only two players of colour in the team, myself and Garnett Kruger. We were in the minority, everyone else was White. And I was called the K-word in a provincial game years ago by someone who represented South Africa in a lot of Test matches.

“He was actually my hero growing up and I respected him, so it was a very sad thing. As one of the first generation of Black players, I didn’t have the confidence to put up a fuss, who do you go to, there were no protocols in place. But it made me angry and motivated, and I got a hundred in that game. He is no longer involved in cricket in South Africa, I don’t feel it’s necessary to go back into that space, I just feel pity for him. And I want to confront the issues of today and not dwell in the past,” Peterson said in a recent webinar for the Ahmed Kathrada Foundation on racism in cricket.

In his new role as coach of the Warriors, Peterson called for greater consultation when it came to transformation policies, which he called ‘outdated’. This year is the 22^nd anniversary of the establishment of Cricket South Africa’s transformation committee, while the decision to make the rapid Africanisation of cricket a priority is celebrating its seventh anniversary, and it is four years since the existing quota of six players of colour, three of which must be Black African, was implemented.

“As a coach now in the system, I find it very divisive and our policies on transformation are a bit outdated, calling each other Black Africans and Coloureds. Do they align with high-performance sport? I find it very difficult as coach to keep a united changeroom, all these silos just create more division. We are the people who implement the policy so we need to be consulted.

“We need a more collaborative and consultative approach because at the moment people are fighting each other in the changerooms. We want a united South Africa and the current policy does not reflect that. The coaches were never consulted and we have to implement it. We need 11 players of different skills, not just numbers like 6+3. The relevant people need to start being consulted,” Peterson said.

WorldRugby may have this week opened a window for the Rugby Championship to take place in New Zealand between November 7 and December 12, but the situation is still far from ideal for South African participation. But commercial imperatives dictate that the Springboks simply have to find a way to get over there and play, otherwise SA Rugby will suffer devastating financial losses.

It is the Sanzaar competitions that bring in the bulk of South African rugby’s revenues and with SuperRugby having been scrapped after just half-a-dozen rounds, it is the Rugby Championship that needs to save the broadcast deals through providing some live content.

As SA Rugby CEO Jurie Roux said recently, the Rugby Championship is a very expensive competition to run, but the broadcast revenues are significant enough that the commercial value compels Sanzaar to continue the event. The difference between revenues and expenses is the reason SA Rugby can use the Rugby Championship to cross-subsidise several other competitions.

One of those competitions is the Currie Cup, which used to be an event of industrial proportions in South African rugby, the envy of the world. Sadly SA Rugby has over the years allowed the jewel in their crown, their most valuable property after the Springboks, to fade into relative insignificance.

But the imminent demise of SuperRugby is likely to bring a resurgence in domestic competition and a Currie Cup style tournament this year is going to play a crucial role in the Springboks returning to action; hopefully that local action will continue to be a focus in 2021 and beyond.

Even though playing in Europe seems to be the big prize at the moment, and private equity investors in our franchises are already saying this is essential for them to get a return on their money, hopefully SA Rugby will still put energy and resources into having a strong purely local competition.

In the meantime, the top eight teams in South Africa are going to play a tournament later this year to at least get rugby back on the go locally. Apart from providing some content for SuperSport, who pour millions into the game, those eight teams are also going to play a vital role in getting the Springboks ready for action.

With New Zealand and Australia already back playing rugby for half-a-dozen weeks and South African players realistically only returning to action in mid-September, there have been understandable concerns expressed that the Springboks are going to be on a hiding to nothing if the Rugby Championship is played this year, being so far behind in terms of preparation. There have been angry mutters about their World Cup win being tarnished.

But the reality of the situation is that even if the Springboks are going to disappoint in terms of on-field results, they simply have to return to action and our television screens, it is a financial imperative. And they have played for financial reasons before, most recently when they lost to Wales in Washington in June 2018.

New Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber has said a squad of 45 players are going to have to travel to New Zealand and quarantine before entering their bio-bubble, and there have even been complaints from local coaches that that will decimate their provincial squads. As is often the case in South African rugby, the unions are going to need a reminder that they are there to serve the national cause, any local competition this year is mostly about getting the Springboks ready for action.

Sanzaar CEO Andy Marinos certainly knows the value of the Springbok brand and last weekend he was stressing the importance of them returning to international action before the end of the year. And as we saw at last year’s World Cup, in which they were certainly underdogs, the ability to rise above the obstacles in their path is a great property of the Springboks.

“By no means will the playing field be level, but the Springbok side have a deep, steely resolve, and I know Rassie Erasmus and Jacques Nienaber will optimise whatever time they have to be as competitive as possible,” Marinos said.

Nienaber says the players in the Springbok squad need at least six games beforehand in order to be able to play in the Rugby Championship. They are unlikely to get much more than six matches unless rugby somehow resumes later this month, but at least they will be going to New Zealand feeling fresh.

And there is a large gap between the Rugby Championship kicking off and the end of SuperRugby Aotearoa and SuperRugby Australia. The New Zealand competition ends on August 16, with no final, while the Australian final will be held on September 19. Whoever handles the double-edged sword of rust versus fatigue best will have a large advantage, and I wouldn’t write off the Springboks just yet.

South African cricket was plunged into more uncertainty on Wednesday with the news that Cricket South Africa acting chief executive Jacques Faul will stand down on September 15.

The beleaguered organisation was already facing losses of close to a billion rand before the Covid-19 pandemic struck, it has still to make any meaningful progress on the charges laid against former CEO Thabang Moroe after a forensic audit – the contents of which are long overdue – and it is trying to douse the flames of allegations of past racism and criticism that their transformation programmes are a failure.

Faul was appointed by the CSA Board last December following Moroe’s suspension, the second time he has filled in as acting CEO, having stood in for Gerald Majola in 2012/13 after the bonus scandal. Since then he has mended the dysfunctional relationships CSA had with the players’ union and sponsors, ensured there has been no cost-cutting or retrenchments since the pandemic struck South Africa, and got high-profile figures like Graeme Smith, Mark Boucher, Jacques Kallis and Charl Langeveldt back involved with the Proteas as the national team looks to rebound from a dismal 2019.

Faul’s initial contract ran through until June, but the CSA Board hired him for an additional three months.

While Faul said he could not comment on his resignation, a CSA Executive told The Citizen on Wednesday that the Doctor of Economic Management Science had e-mailed the Board to say that he will be standing down on September 15 and that he would inform CSA staff on Thursday.

A source close to Faul said the acting CEO was discouraged by the uncooperative relationship he had with some CSA Exco and Board members in trying to secure the financial future of the organisation and ensure that the Proteas remained competitive on the global stage.

Faul will not be lost to cricket, however, and will go back to his previous full-time position as chief executive of the Titans franchise and the Northerns Cricket Union.