Cricket drops out of race for transformation

For a very long time, cricket was the flag bearer of transformation in South African sport – at the highest level at least. After Makhaya Ntini made his debut for the Proteas in the late 1990s and became a mainstay on the team for more than a decade, cricket had it made.

The sport was blessed with a black star to use as its poster boy, something another traditional white sport, rugby, so dearly craved.

Rugby had the initial inside lane after readmission to international sport, with Chester Williams being a highly valued member of the 1995 World Cup-winning Springbok team.

But consistent injuries deprived him of an extended international career and players of colour in the aftermath of 1995 were few and far between. Even more so black players.

Four years after the ‘95 euphoria, the Boks took on the Wallabies in the World Cup semifinals at Twickenham, with one player of colour in their match day 22 – winger Deon Kayser.

Another four years later and winger Ashwin Willemse was the only coloured player in the Boks’ match 22 that made a quarterfinal exit to the All Blacks.

All of 12 years after Williams’ appearance as the Boks’ only player of colour in a World Cup final, the Boks only had two coloured wings to show, in Bryan Habana and JP Pietersen when they beat England to win their second World Cup title.

That trend didn’t change much until Beast Mtawarira finally became a regular on the Bok team; a household name and a fan-favourite.

Despite quite a few blacks passing through the Bok set-up over the years, Mtawarira found himself rather isolated as the only real superstar.

And in no time at all, the Springboks won their third World Cup trophy, led by a black captain in Siya Kolisi, who was one of five black superstars – along with Mtawarira, Bongi Mbonambi, Lukhanyo Am and Makazole Mapimpi.

Now peer over to the country’s cricket team, and Kagiso Rabada is the sole black flag bearer in the Test series against England after Temba Bavuma was dropped due to poor form and Lungi Ngidi got injured.

Players lose form and get injured, but judging by the lack of black players on the fringes of the national Test team, cricket is in deeper transformation trouble than we might think.

And light years behind rugby.