CSA jumped the gun

FAUL: ADMITS NATIONAL CRICKET BODY WAS ‘NAIVE AND AMBITIOUS’

Return to onfield action needed more time to work through all the protocols.

Cricket South Africa (CSA) acting chief executive Jacques Faul admitted yesterday the organisation were “a bit naïve and ambitious” to think the sport would be let out of its Covid-19 lockdown cell as early as this weekend, following the postponement of the Solidarity Cup.

The new format of the game, devised by 3TCricket, and a return to onfield action was launched amid much fanfare last week, with SuperSport Park in Centurion set to stage the contest involving three teams playing a 36-over match on Saturday.

But by the weekend CSA were forced to backtrack as government said they had not yet approved the plans, despite director of cricket Graeme Smith saying SuperSport Park had been “cleared” and “permits were in place” for the event to take place.

“We were a bit naïve and ambitious with the date because it did not leave us with a lot of time to work through all the protocols. Because SuperSport Park is in a hotspot, we now need Department of Health approval too. But we will take it on the chin and plan better. We really want to seek the correct procedure and it's not something we can just push through,” Faul, pictured, told The Citizen yesterday.

CSA expect to be able to announce a new date for the Solidarity Cup in a few weeks.

As part of their efforts to convince the Department of Sports, Arts and Culture that they have measures in place to ensure a safe return to cricket, CSA have conducted more than 100 Covid-19 tests on their staff and those of the franchises, including players. Sport24 revealed yesterday that seven of those tests had returned positive results.

But those safety processes now have to be approved by two government departments so the wait to get back out on to the cricket field will last a little longer.

But if thousands of golfers are out and about on hundreds of courses around the country, then it surely won't be long before cricket, in what is going to be a tightly-controlled environment, returns too.