Cricket’s on target
TRANSFORMATION is imperative for a variety reasons in sport, and one reason is it will also make South African sports teams better. That’s right, the Springboks will be a better rugby team, the Proteas a better cricket side, the SA netball team will be better, the hockey teams too.
If that had been the narrative at the beginning, there would have been no drama around transformation, development, quotas or targets. Unfortunately, it took sports administrators a long time to cotton onto that, and so transformation almost became a swear word. But no more.
Cricket South Africa (CSA) announced transformation targets for its national teams at the start of the season. In the case of the men’s national team, they’ve exceeded their targets.
It was the result, said the organisation’s chief executive, Haroon Lorgat, of many seasons of hard work and much pain. There was the letter from Black African cricketers expressing their concerns over how slowly they felt transformation was taking place.
Then there were reports of white players who threatened a boycott. Communication between players and CSA’s administrators was poor.
But they’ve forged ahead, the players were given a clearer understanding of what was taking place and the Proteas have been better for it.
CSA’s development initiatives, through their Hubs programme – which combines clubs, schools and local communities buying into development strategies – is beginning to bear fruit.
More players are becoming available, which means CSA may have to look at restructuring the domestic cricket structure and an increase in the number of franchises.
Speaking to the Parliamentary Committee on Sport this week, CSA’s president Thabang Moroe rated the organisation’s progress on transformation as 4 out of 10. “We are still falling short in many regards,” said Moroe.
That is good to hear. It means CSA won’t take their eye off the ball with regards to transformation.
But there has been progress and the South African cricket team is, and will continue to be, the better for it.