Proteas under pressure over ‘whitewashing’
THE storm clouds are gathering over South African cricket on and off the field after a miserable day on which England moved in for the kill and a 2-1 series lead.
The new Cricket South Africa regime under CEO Jacques Faul, director of cricket Graeme Smith and head coach Mark Boucher stands accused by a significant section of the population of ‘whitewashing’ the game and undoing years of painfully earned transformation concessions.
Much of the criticism is coming from those with a political rather than sporting background but they are a powerful minority with strong and widespread influence.
When Boucher appointed his closest friend, Jacques Kallis, as the team’s batting coach the perception of a ‘white revolution’ was complete.
South Africa’s victory in the first Test at Centurion made it harder for the dissenters to voice their criticism but defeat in the second Test at Newlands and another dominant England performance here has led to a crescendo of calls for a return to the racial transformation policies which have underpinned selection for over a decade.
When racial quotas were first introduced more than a dozen years ago they applied only to domestic teams.
The belief, or hope, was that they would fast-track nonwhite players through the system at age-group and firstclass level leading to an increase of black players to choose from. But the national team was exempt from a strict quota other than the one first introduced in 2000 which was that the Proteas would never again be ‘all white.’
Frustrated at slow progress, CSA introduced even stricter quotas four years ago with provincial teams required to field seven non-white players in every game with three of those to be black African. In franchise cricket, it is six nonwhite players, three of whom must be black African.
The only leeway for the national team is that two black
Africans must be included in the six non-whites and the quota is measured across all three formats and over the course of a calendar year.
So, strictly speaking, there is no problem with South Africa fielding only four non-white players in the first two Tests and five in this one — with Kagiso Rabada the only black African — because they can make up the numbers in the ODIs and T20Is.
But such is the sensitivity around the subject, inflamed by the appointment of the new, white regime and the axing of black batsman Temba Bavuma, that pressure is mounting for significant change — now. The suspension of Rabada for the fourth Test at the Wanderers next week means Bavuma is certain to be recalled. Although he scored a career-best 180 in his last innings for his franchise, the Lions, many will unfairly see his recall as purely ‘political’.
The racial transformation of sport in South Africa is not simply a moral imperative to redress the hideous wrongs of apartheid. There is also an economic imperative. Sponsors, broadcasters and advertisers would rather not be associated with a sport once perceived to be ‘the white man’s game.’ White South Africans constitute just 10 per cent of the population.
The greatest problem with quotas, however, is that they directly contravene the core principle of elite sport which is the pursuit of excellence. Any team, in any sport and any region, is irrefutably compromised if any selection criteria exist other than excellence. It does not necessarily mean the best team is not chosen, but it remains a compromise.
Smith and Boucher believe strongly in transformation, organic if possible, but they also believe that cricket lovers will support a winning team whatever the colour of their skin.