CSA committee to deal with virus issues

Acting CEO Jacques Faul says Cricket SA has set up a threeman executive committee to deal with any immediate novel coronavirus-related issues.

SA’s men’s ODI team returned on Wednesday from their aborted tour of India, while the domestic cricket season has been halted for 60 days.

The Australian women’s T20 team that was due to tour SA after their T20 World Cup success‚ has also pulled out of the tour due to coronavirus fears.

“The Cricket SA board has set up a three-man executive committee made up of board members to speed up decisionmaking. They’ve made money available should the coronavirus need to be addressed with immediate expenses‚” Faul said. “There will be a strategy rolled out for all staff working in cricket that’ll be done this week.”

With Proteas chief medical officer Shuaib Manjra saying the ODI team will be self-isolating for 14 days‚ Faul said Cricket SA was in a fortunate position that the domestic and international season were about to end.

The India ODI series was going to be the Proteas’ last international engagement for the 2019/2020 summer.

The Momentum 1-Day Cup was at the playoff stage while there were two rounds remaining in the Four-Day Franchise series. The semi-professional three-day and ODI tournaments were also in their final stages.

“We’re fortunate with the timing because we’re at the end of the season and there’s no incoming tour for some time. It hasn’t impacted on us that much financially for now‚” Faul said.

“We have to take into account the world and the changing financial dynamics.

“We’re being protected a bit‚ we are doing scenario planning‚ but we don’t want to panic or look too far down the road because we need data to react immediately.”

The enforced curtailment of the domestic season means Cricket SA must decide who wins which tournament or whether they will be voided.

The Lions are at the top of the Four-Day Franchise Series while the Dolphins and Lions are the top two Momentum 1-Day Cup sides.

KwaZulu-Natal Coastal and Eastern Province headed the Cricket SA 3-Day Provincial Challenge pools while Free State and the Northern Cape are top of the Cricket SA 1-Day Provincial Challenge pools.

Faul said they still have time to make those decisions‚ where Cricket SA’s acting director of cricket Graeme Smith is part of the decision-making process.

“We had to make an immediate call, but we have a bit more time to decide in terms of how we redistribute prize-money and how we award winners.

“The immediate call was necessary but we give all the difficult passes to Graeme Smith nowadays‚” Faul said.