Ken Borland

Paul Adams’ refusal to testify in Mark Boucher’s disciplinary hearing is an unfortunate development that will not only considerably weaken Cricket South Africa’s case, but also reflects badly on the former spin bowler and makes it harder for the current Proteas coach to clear his name in an unambiguous fashion.

Having showed an admirable level of courage in testifying at the Social Justice and Nation-Building hearings about an offensive team song the Proteas used in fines meetings in the late 1990s, Adams now seems to have lost his nerve when it comes to presenting and justifying the same evidence, but this time with Boucher’s representatives being able to cross-examine and test his claims.

It shows again that for SJN Ombudsman Advocate Dumisa Ntsebeza to err so badly in allowing inflammatory allegations to be publicly aired without being properly subjected to legal processes has only created more headaches for Cricket South Africa.

Adams was also disingenuous in his weekend statement announcing his decision when he claimed he never meant to single out Boucher in his SJN testimony. While Boucher’s name was admittedly brought into the conversation by one of Ntsebeza’s legal assistants, Adams went on to say that Boucher “should come and say sorry, if that’s enough, but we can’t brush this under the carpet”.

Adams also went on to target Boucher’s appointment as Titans coach in 2016.

No amount of “sorry”s can fully cleanse the stain of being unjustifiably called a racist and Adams’ refusal to further discuss his allegations has denied Boucher the chance of properly exonerating himself if he is innocent of the offences his former team-mate accuses him of doing.

With Enoch Nkwe also not expected to testify, CSA’s entire case could quickly disintegrate. But the public may not be as quick to forget the allegations that were made against Boucher but which have never actually been disproven.

That could only have happened if Adams had availed himself to answer such probing questions as what other songs were sung, what songs did he participate in and who actually wrote the offensive lyrics?

Having provided the matches to those who are looking to burn down Boucher’s career, Adams has now slipped out of being held accountable for what he said.

Bulls coach Jake White may be saying he will be looking to play more from scrums in the United Rugby Championship going forward, but that is not going to weaken the resolve of his front row to make a point when they come up against the Sharks at Kings Park on Friday night.

White said one of the differences in northern hemisphere rugby that his team will need to adapt to is that sides tend to use the scrum as an attacking platform and not something from which to earn penalties.

But the outspoken coach made a point of saying how much he was looking forward to seeing former Springbok hooker Bismarck du Plessis taking on Bongi Mbonambi, the incumbent in the Green and Gold No.2 jersey. He is also keen to see how another Springbok, Lizo Gqoboka, does as he comes off the bench as tighthead cover, having switched back to the other side of the scrum, where he started his career.

“I don’t really want a whole lot of penalties at scrum time,” White said on Thursday. “In South Africa you see the scrum is used as an opportunity to get out of your half or get points, via penalties.

“But in the rest of the URC, teams see it as an opportunity to attack, with eight forwards all tied in there. They try and get the ball in and out quickly.

“The Sharks have been speaking for months about how strong they will be when all their Springboks return and then it will just be a matter of time before they dominate. Well this is it now, it’s a home game for them and their Boks are back.

“Bongi has been the dominant hooker for South Africa, while Bismarck is also a World Cup winner who has played 79 Tests. I’m sure he will introduce himself to Bongi and I’m looking forward to that battle,” White said.

While the likes of Ox Nche and Aphelele Fassi have for some undisclosed reason been blacklisted from playing for the Sharks on Friday night, the KwaZulu-Natalians will have Siya Kolisi, Lukhanyo Am, Makazole Mapimpi and Sbu Nkosi also lining up alongside Mbonambi.

Am has moved to inside centre, setting up an intriguing tussle with a Bulls backline that sees David Kriel playing at outside centre and Kurt-Lee Arendse at fullback.

Despite their dire mismanagement of the postponed T20 Global League, Cricket South Africa (CSA) look set to take on the South African Cricketers’ Association (Saca) in the new year in a bid to weaken what they perceive as the players’ undue influence on the game in this country.

Speaking with CSA president Chris Nenzani alongside him, acting CEO Thabang Moroe said on Wednesday that CSA would be pushing towards plans to dictate to the Proteas what franchise they should play for and to renegotiate the revenue-sharing deal which has been in place with the players for several years.

Given the level of uncertainty surrounding the majority of players in South Africa, and the numerous lucrative offers they are tempted with from overseas, any aggressive moves by CSA are likely to antagonise their most valuable assets and chase them away to greener pastures.

“The Proteas need to be allocated to franchise teams or there could even be a draft system. We want all our Proteas to participate domestically. We were very happy with the RamSlam T20 Challenge, but it could have been even better if all the Proteas were playing at once in different teams.

“Change is definitely needed and it’s unfair on those unions that work so hard to develop players and then lose them, what are these franchises doing in their own provinces? We might not even consult Saca. The players are our employees and in the corporate world, when you are an employee, you just get an e-mail saying ‘this is the new direction, this is the way it’s going to go’.

“A trade union doesn’t have a say in our view of how our company should be run and how we engage with trade unions. There is no room for a union to intervene if CSA decide to go in a different direction. There is nothing to stop us from moving away from revenue-sharing. CSA makes the money for cricket in this country and not the players’ union,” Moroe said in Port Elizabeth.

When asked about how much money CSA had lost due to the postponement of the T20 Global League, Moroe could not resist another attack on the players.

“The money we spent on upgrading facilities has not been lost, the money we spent on buying the trophy has not been lost. The only money we’ve lost is what we paid to players for not even bowling a ball,” he said.

Moroe and Nenzani defended the board’s handling of former CEO Haroon Lorgat and his failed business plan for the T20 Global League, saying they had to resist the urges to interfere until it became absolutely necessary.

“We had management that had performed extremely well in the past and the board had complete trust in them. They drive the projects and the board does not want to interfere in daily operations, but we do get regular reports. We only became uncomfortable with the details in June/July,” Nenzani said.

https://citizen.co.za/sport/south-africa-sport/sa-cricket-sport/1769502/1769502/