T20 report due soon

Cricket SA hopes to conclude its investigation into the T20 Global League (T20GL) fiasco in the next few days, writes Telford Vice.

The T20GL‚ Cricket SA’s version of money-spinning tournaments such as the Indian Premier League (IPL)‚ was to have started on Friday.

But Cricket SA said on October 10 it would be postponed because it would lose $25m — more than half the board’s current cash reserves. Cricket SA promised to investigate.

Asked what progress had been made‚ president Chris Nenzani said: “The processes have not yet been concluded.

“We have sensitised the parties involved to work faster and we have set a mid-November target date.

“We are therefore still waiting and we would like to have a fuller report.”

Cricket SA has faced criticism over the probe because‚ at this stage‚ it is being conducted away from independent scrutiny. Employing what it has called “two parallel processes”‚ Cricket SA has tasked its internal auditor with examining what went wrong and appointed a law firm to do the same.

The investigation would be perceived as having more integrity should Cricket SA‚ after hearing from the auditor and lawyers‚ decide it warrants a more open approach.

So far the T20GL saga echoes Cricket SA’s reaction to the scandal that erupted after it emerged that R4.7m in bonuses paid to staff for their work on the 2009 IPL was spirited out of the view of its own governance structures. Cricket SA tried to keep that investigation in-house‚ but a subsequent independent probe found that then CE Gerald Majola had broken the law.

He was fired and then lost a Labour Court action against his dismissal.