CRICKET AT A PRECIPICE

The debacle over CSA’S T20 efforts has cost the organisation nearly R300m

A casual fan surveying the local cricket landscape could be forgiven for thinking that the crops are healthy and the rivers full. Pakistan were steamrollered 3-0 by the Proteas in the Test series, with the ODIS and T20s running similarly in SA’S favour, though by closer margins.

Sri Lanka, currently touring the country, are giving the Proteas a closer run, but there is still the sense that the visitors are outgunned. So, overall, all seems dandy with Faf du Plessis’ men ahead of their big trip to the World Cup in England this year.

There is a good working relationship between Du Plessis and Ottis Gibson, the Barbados-born national coach, who has brought greater technical savvy to the Proteas’ bowling (though some argue about the consistency of SA’S top-order batting).

A number of players, including Rassie van der Dussen, Andile Phehlukwayo and Duanne Olivier, have made giant strides through the summer, with Van der Dussen likely to have cemented a late place for himself in the World Cup squad (see sidebar).

On the surface, our cricketers are content. As they should be: the player wage bill for the recently completed Mzansi Super League (MSL), SA’S inaugural international T20 cricket league, was a staggering R48m. This includes fees for the plundering international privateers who were hardly ever here, like the England pair of Jason Roy and Eoin Morgan, but most of this money will go to locals. (And it excluded prize money and bonuses for the winners, the Jozi Stars.)

Cricket SA (CSA) has learnt to its cost that it is foolhardy to go head-to-head with the players, who are unionised through the SA Cricketers

Association, so exorbitant salaries for the MSL simply had to be paid.

Adding to CSA’S financial headache was the fact that last year it got into a kerfuffle with Supersport, which offered R50m for the MSL broadcast rights, within the context of both parties being involved in a joint venture to co-run the tournament.

But no sooner had the ink dried on the “equity partnership” contract than the temperature between CSA and Supersport plunged. The freeze was profound — resulting in a bad case of cold feet.

CSA and Supersport parted ways, amid a cloud of “he said, she said” accusations. It was especially tricky because, besides the MSL, Supersport has a relationship with CSA worth R350m until 2021.

In essence, CSA accused Supersport of scuppering the broadcast rights deal for the MSL’S ill-fated predecessor, the Global T20, which collapsed. In reply, Supersport alleges commercial incompetence and lack of administrative experience within CSA’S swanky new headquarters in Joburg.

Clearly not all is happy at CSA. Just before Christmas, Louis von Zeuner, the former Absa deputy CEO who was also an independent director at CSA, resigned. Von Zeuner’s departure was far more significant than many realised. As one Supersport insider put it: “I’ve never seen this lightweight a CSA board. Operationally, people are frequently out of their depth.”

This was the context in which, last October, CSA thumbed its nose at Supersport and took the broadcast rights for the MSL to the SABC instead,