Power games off the pitch leave bad taste despite Test win
Gone are the days when a Test victory against Bangladesh can be dismissed as a “so what” event. It was an efficient performance by the Proteas, with a couple of standout and memorable moments.
Aiden Markram made a delightful start to his Test career and, although he would have relished the challenge of facing James Anderson and Stuart Broad in a Test match in England, he should thank the selectors for giving him the opportunity to debut against the less threatening Shafiul Islam and Mustafizur Rahman.
Andile Phehlukwayo had few opportunities to contribute but he looked at home and further chances will come his way, perhaps even in Bloemfontein on Friday when the second Test will start on a pitch promising to have a great deal more pace and bounce.
The pitch at Senwes Park was slow and lifeless but it is a credit to curator Louis Kruger that he was able to prepare a pitch at all at this time of year. Forty-eight hours before the match was due to begin the outfield was snow white with a thick frost and the grass was breaking under foot like egg shells. There wasn’t enough grass on the pitch and he knew it but “you can’t make grass grow when it is freezing, no matter how nicely you talk to it”, as he put it.
Actually, you can, but that would have meant erecting a tent over the playing square and hiring a few dozen infrared lamps. As able, willing and hospitable as the North West Cricket Union is, they do not have a spare half-million rand for such luxuries. Nonetheless, they were proud of their efforts, on and off the field, and so they should be.
It was a pragmatic decision four years ago by Cricket SA to play all international cricket at the major venues and sideline the smaller unions. Finances were tight and too much money was slipping through the cracks. But now that it has been happily reversed, it is not only Senwes Park that has returned to the roster.
During the rest of the month, the Proteas will be travelling to Kimberley, Benoni, Paarl and East London as Cricket SA make a point of welcoming them all back into the cricket family having, to their minds, been ruthlessly abandoned.
So, the good news was all on the field and that looks set to continue with Bangladesh fortified in attitude and spirit but still inadequately equipped to succeed away from home.
That will change only when they are treated with respect by the likes of England and Australia and invited to play in those countries.
Off the field, it was far less happy with the sudden departure of Cricket SA CE Haroon Lorgat. There has been simmering tension in the game’s head office for more than a year and it’s a stain on the administrative records of president Chris Nenzani, all the board members and Lorgat himself that they were unable to resolve it amicably, never mind productively.
Theoretically, the CE works for the board but Lorgat became the face of Cricket SA. He appeared to make all the big decisions and pull all the most important strings. His relationship with chief financial officer Naasei Appiah broke down almost a year ago when Appiah filed a grievance against Lorgat on the basis that he was not committed to transformation with regard to the employment of black Africans in the administration.
The matter was resolved independently and Lorgat was found “not guilty”. But Lorgat and Appiah were finished and both were too proud and/or stubborn to mend bridges.
In the end, it was the perfect coup. A series of co-ordinated media leaks from within Cricket SA resulted in much disinformation about Lorgat, predominantly concerning his “lack of transparency” with the broadcast deal and financial workings, including expenses incurred, in the establishment of the T20 Global League. By the time the guillotine came down, Nenzani and his deputy president, Thabang Moroe, had already spoken to Global Franchise owners, sponsors and other important partners and assured them there was nothing to worry about.
Some board members have, in fact, been willing to confirm that Lorgat revealed details to them but not to the chief financial officer — which is entirely unworkable.
It is a significant worry that power games are once again being waged among the administrators. Neither Lorgat nor the board have been forthcoming or honest about the reasons for the split. Remarkably, the board seem to think the saga will now simply fade away. It won’t. Unless they handle it with maturity, it will linger for years.