Proteas’ sad slide down the world rankings will come with a heavy cost
They may be losing more than they are winning but the Proteas are providing a welcome on-field distraction from the continuing cognitive dissonance of so many people who are supposed to be running the game.
Anybody who regarded the members’ council decision to finally agree to a majority independent board at Cricket SA as a victory for the interim board and an end to the administrative embarrassment is deluded and set for a rude shock.
Let’s be clear about an important fact: only half of the 14 provincial presidents that comprise the members’ council voted for an independent board. Half. Five voted against the changes to the organisation’s memorandum of incorporation and two abstained.
Five provincial presidents were so intensely motivated by their own self-preservation that they were prepared to see Cricket SA suspended as an affiliate of the ICC and the Proteas from international cricket. Two were so diffident about that horror scenario that they chose not to exercise their vote.
They fought to the bitter end, attempting to add a clause to the new draft memorandum of incorporation in which they, the members’ council, would be responsible for the appointment of the independent directors — should they agree to having a majority of them. Prisoners do not generally handpick their own wardens. Defeats the purpose. Instead, kicking and screaming, the members’ council will now cede the powers of nomination and appointment of independent directors to a nominations committee on which one member of the interim board will sit.
The nominations committee will be guided by strict criteria on both the credentials and independence of the new board members’and members council their had suitability. The recalcitrant members of the expressed their “concerns” that “non-cricket people” would be appointed. They did not appear to notice that their own behaviour was anything but in cricket’s best interests.
It is impossible to legislate for every harm and there will undoubtedly be independent directors appointed, either this time or in the future, who are neither suitable nor sufficiently independent. That happens on most boards. But with the blueprint for independence, the ground is being prepared for the administration of the game without the crippling selfishness caused by provincial bias and personal gain.
Cricket is unlike most other businesses and industries. An understanding of its landscape, both domestically and internationally, is critical to the successful rebuilding of Cricket SA’s reputation at home and abroad. Perennial “professional” directors with seats on multiple boards should be avoided. In the past, many were appointed to make up the numbers because the members’ council dominated the board anyway and could always overrule independent voices and have their way.
Apart from legal, commercial, financial and media specialist knowledge, the independent directors must include at least one member with extensive domestic or international playing experience. It is not merely SA’s professional players who need to feel and believe their welfare is represented on the board, it is the world’s other cricket-playing nations as well.
The Proteas were long regarded as the “next biggest” behind the big-three nations of India, England and Australia. As the highest-ranked Test nation in 2012, they commanded respect and were well placed to negotiate lucrative bilateral tours. They were in demand. They were box office. That place has now been taken by New Zealand. The Proteas slide down the world rankings in all three formats may be a blow to cricket lovers’ collective esteem, but, far more crucially, it results directly in millions of dollars of lost revenue.
The men’s Proteas team is directly responsible for more than 80% of Cricket SA’s revenue. The women’s game is growing exponentially and the Momentum Proteas are increasing their own revenue all the time. We should all dream of the day when parity is reached between the sexes but the here and now, right now, means resources need to be directed at the Proteas — and they need to return to winning ways.
Remember this, however: half the members of the highest decision-making authority in cricket wanted things to stay the same, rotten way they were. And they are still provincial presidents. They will still be “in the system”.
Some of the same old faces which featured in incoherent, failed administrations of the recent past have re-emerged too and are circling, eyeing opportunities to prosper.
New, fresh faces are required, people who wish to serve cricket and not have it serve them. The good news is this: they are out there and the game can become healthy and influential once again.
Innovative thinkers and influential dealmakers who love cricket are not in short supply. We may think they are because they have been sidelined or overlooked — and we have grown accustomed to selfserving amateurism.
Cricket SA can grow strong again. But it won’t be easy and it won’t be quick.