Cricket SA’s communication a deafening sound of silence

It is now 23 days since the Proteas lost to the Netherlands and returned from the T20 World Cup with their tails between their legs, and 21 days since it was announced that a “panel of experts” would be assembled to investigate what went wrong. There has since been no communication on the subject.

Perhaps that is as it should be. If supporters still want answers and accountability, perhaps there aren’t any of the former and none of the latter. The game moves forward and the disaster against the amateurs in orange shirts at the Adelaide Oval will be assigned its place at the top of South African World Cup disasters and forgotten. David Miller, Rilee Rossouw, Dwaine Pretorius, Tabraiz Shamsi and Anrich Nortjé are playing in the Abu Dhabi T10 League. Miller retired from first-class cricket a couple of years ago and Rossouw is also a white-ball specialist.

But Pretorius and Shamsi chose (and were permitted) to skip the domestic first-class competition. Nortjé is bowling two-over spells in preparation for a Test series against Australia.

There is no doubt that more SA cricketers would be in Abu Dhabi had they been invited. There has been no announcement to this effect, obviously, but Cricket SA’s reality and that of its affiliated provinces is that the country’s professional players are now free to play wherever they like. It suits them financially, of course, but there is also the environment to consider.

Temba Bavuma is the Test vice-captain and has also been short of runs in recent times. He chose to play in neither of the Lions’ two first-class matches before departure for Brisbane. That, too, is fair enough on one level. The man needed a break after the trauma of the T20 World Cup. If he can rediscover his best Test form, then the time off can be regarded as an investment.

Proteas bowling coach Charl Langeveldt was quoted at the weekend talking about Kagiso Rabada’s workload. “He is not a machine,” Langeveldt told Rapport newspaper. That is why he, too, has not played for the Lions.

One man who is playing for the Lions is Ryan Rickelton, fit enough to keep wicket for eight days and score back-to-back centuries but not fit enough to keep his place in the Proteas squad for the tour of Australia.

The real issue is not when and where SA’s cricketers are plying their trade. Strong arguments can be made in several directions and none are winnable. The issue is the lack of clear communication and, worse, an apparent indifference to even trying. If there was an understanding of why clear, jargon-free and transparent communication was important, then more effort would be made.

A culture of silence has prevailed for too long in too many departments of the game’s national administration, and it is a culture which is inherited by most new members of staff. The Cricket SA executive has recently been refreshed with the appointment of several new staff members. The game would benefit greatly if they did not adopt the habit of disseminating information on a “need to know” basis.

Attempting to put a positive spin on negative news is understandable, but it is equally important to recognise that you can’t put lipstick on a pig and expect your audience to ask it out on a date.

Cricket SA’s finances are the pig in the system, though the organisation’s annual report, released at the weekend after the AGM, described them as showing a “10% improvement”. Which meant, in fact, a loss of R198m in the last financial year compared with the R221m it lost in the previous financial year.

The SA20 is gathering an impressive head of steam and providing a welcome distraction. To all intents and purposes the tournament is a stand-alone event outside the daily control of Cricket SA but co-operating with the national administration. The six franchises all have their own PR and social media teams and the SA20 board is largely independent from Cricket SA’s board.

Another nugget of information in the annual report made for fascinating reading. Cricket SA’s anticorruption officer, Louis Cole, reported that no less than 25 bookies were banned from the JB Marks Oval earlier this month during the Cricket SA T20 Challenge in Potchefstroom. Cole’s report says they came from far and wide: Australia, England,* Pakistan, Bangladesh, India and, of course, SA.

“We were just acting according to cricketing rules which prohibit live betting at games or communicating any data outside the stadium,” Cole said.

What makes the story so interesting is the high-profile involvement of four gambling companies in the sponsorship of SA cricket, at national and domestic level. The prevailing attitude of awkwardness around the situation needn’t be necessary. It’s not as though provinces are being sponsored by manufacturers of sex toys.

Cricket was first played centuries ago in order for team owners to place wagers on the result. It has always been there.