Cricket SA racks up wins

While one is accustomed to Neil Manthorp directing barbs at Cricket SA (CSA), his most recent column makes wholly unsubstantiated claims that CSA is “without a meaningful or respected voice at (ICC) headquarters in Dubai” (“SA cricket has more than promotion, relegation and wins at stake,” March 12).

I pen this letter having just arrived in Dubai for a set of board and committee meetings over the next few days in my capacity as the CSAnominated director of the International Cricket Council (ICC).

Manthorp omits to mention that the next men’s ODI World Cup, the ICC’s flagship event, will be held in SA, Zimbabwe and Namibia in 2027. Late in 2023, the ICC also requested CSA to slot in as hosts of the men’s Under 19 World Cup that was due to have been held in Sri Lanka.

The ICC had full confidence in our capacity to pull off an event of this scale at extremely short notice, and has congratulated CSA on hosting a successful event. Earlier in 2023, we also successfully hosted the women’s Under 19 as well as the senior women’s T20 World Cups.

The ICC annual conference and AGM was hosted in Durban in July 2023, with delegates rating it as one of the best held to date. Perhaps Manthorp should ponder how CSA was able to secure all these events without a meaningful or respected voice within the ICC.

With regard to the issue of disbursements from the ICC, the ICC board changed the method of calculating the share to full member boards in light of the fact that the Indian broadcasting market generates the vast proportion of ICC revenues over the new four-year cycle.

While India’s share of the disbursements has grown significantly, ours has also increased, albeit not at the same scale. In dollar terms, we — together with all other full members of the ICC

— are better off with this new dispensation than we were before.

Lawson Naidoo Chair, CSA board