CSA hits transformation targets

CRICKET South Africa is confident it won’t be getting any ‘death stares’ from Sports Minister Fikile Mbalula next month. The organisation has fulfilled its mandate as far as the transformation targets for the men’s national team are concerned.

There may still be some who will question how they came up with the system that measures the participation of black players across all three formats, over the course of a season, rather than on a matchto-match basis, but even those critics would be hard-pressed to call out CSA’S sincerity.

It was with much brouhaha that Mbalula announced last April that CSA, SA Rugby, Athletics SA and Netball SA would not be allowed to bid for international events to be hosted in South Africa because they had not fulfilled the transformation criteria they had agreed to with the Department of Sport and Recreation through the Eminent Persons Group.

All of those sports federations are set to report back to Mbalula and the EPG next month, where the data from the last year will be reviewed and made public. Meanwhile, Mbalula has been quick to throw the government’s support behind SA Rugby in its bid to host the 2023 World Cup, even though the transformation targets haven’t been reviewed yet.

Perhaps as with last year’s announcement, Mbalula’s public support is just another attempt to distract from the horrendous bungle that was the removal of Durban as the host city for the 2022 Commonwealth Games. No heads have rolled for that failure even though R118-million worth of taxpayers’ money appears to have disappeared down the drain.

Last year Mbalula’s very public admonishing of the various sporting codes was a not-so-subtle tactic to grab attention away from the ANC’S woeful local government election campaign.

But the minister’s outrage looked meaningless then and looks even more so now given the enthusiasm that the government is showing in supporting SA Rugby’s bid to host the World Cup in six years’ time.

By using it as a political tool, Mbalula’s actions last year devalued the very important work being done around transformation.

Nevertheless, in CSA’S case, the organisation took very seriously the minister’s sharp criticism, whatever its motives, and the body held a series of meetings with the EPG to understand better how it arrived at its findings. To say cricket officials were bamboozled last year would be an understatement. Privately many just laughed at how the EPG came up with and then presented its figures.

It was not just enough to laugh it off, though. They had to show they could work within the parameters of what the EPG required and, more importantly, especially in cricket’s case, genuinely expand the game in a manner in which excellence was underscored at the same time as opportunities to play the game were being provided.

CSA has pressed ahead with the transformation targets domestically and that has had an impact on the national team, particularly this season. Lungi Ngidi and Andile Phehlukwayo have both made an impression at international level. Domestically, Sibonelo Makhanya has established his credentials for the Dolphins in the limited overs formats, while Aviwe Mgijima has made himself almost indispensable at the Cobras.

Good white players have risen to the fore, too, notably Aiden Markram at the Titans, while Duanne Olivier, Theunis de Bruyn and Heinrich Klaasen have all been given a taste of the Proteas’ set-up.

None of which is to say everything is suddenly hunkydory. CSA still has a lot of work to do to ensure players are given opportunities at franchise level, and this season it’s apparent that the establishment of a seventh franchise is essential – something which a review of the domestic game undertaken earlier this season recommended.

CSA had set targets for the national men’s team to play an average minimum of 54% black players and an average minimum of 18% black African players over the season. They have exceeded those targets – black players have averaged 55.51% over the season DHARAMSALA, India:australia skipper Steve Smith’s third century of the series and India spinner Kuldeep Yadav’s memorable debut left the fourth and final test between the teams evenly poised yesterday. Smith, comfortably the leading scorer of the series, made 111 as he and David Warner, who scored 56, added 134 runs for the second wicket to help Australia dominate the morning session after opting to bat. Left-arm wrist-spinner Yadav, an inspirational selection in India’s bold move to go with five bowlers, led the hosts’ strong comeback in the post-lunch session when five wickets tumbled for 64 runs. Matthew Wade made 57 down the order to help Australia reach 300 before the tourists folded leaving India to bat the final over of the day, a maiden one from Josh Hazlewood. Wade conceded Australia lost an opportunity to post a bigger total. “(Australia were) one for 140, so after lunch you hope to push but credit to the Indians who bowled really well through the middle session,” he told reporters. “We had to find a way to grind out 300.To get there in the end was a good effort.” Openers Lokesh Rahul, who faced all six deliveries from Hazlewood, and Murali Vijay will hope to give India a strong start when they resume today. — Reuters and black African players 19.15%. The fewest number of black players to start an international for the Proteas this season was four – in the third ODI against Australia last October – while the highest number of black players to feature was eight in the final T20 against Sri Lanka in January.

We’ll know soon how Mbalula assesses those developments, but it is crucial his faux anger is set aside, for the work being done by sports bodies regarding transformation is a very serious business indeed.