Cricket woes not the fault of one man alone

As a cricket journalist, the favourite part of my job is covering matches, writing about the happenings on the field. But there have been some extremely meaty off-field stories going on in South African cricket over the last couple of years, which simply could not be ignored.

But with timing that came straight off the bottom of the bat, with the fire having been lit and the meat sizzling away, I happened to be away in the bush on two weeks leave when the delicious dish was fully cooked and ready to be consumed.

So having my accreditation revoked by Cricket South Africa did not really affect me at all, especially since I was covering golf at the time – the Alfred Dunhill Championship at Leopard Creek. But in terms of shooting oneself in the foot or massive strategic blunders, what then-CEO Thabang Moroe personally described to me as “drastic action” certainly meets the criteria.

The way in which the public, our media colleagues, the players association and sponsors reacted to five cricket writers having their accreditation revoked was heartwarming and the spark for the dramatic changes we have seen in South African cricket over the last three weeks.

Moroe has been suspended, temporarily replaced by Jacques Faul, the sort of administrator with the vision, knowledge and people skills that CSA desperately need, and a dream team of Graeme Smith, Mark Boucher, Enoch Nkwe, Jacques Kallis and Charl Langeveldt assembled to look after the Proteas in what is a massive series against England. It has all happened at short notice and the Proteas’ recent form has not been good, but I feel comfortable that they will acquit themselves well on the field.

But there is still much going on off the field that journalists need to get their teeth into.

Corrie van Zyl, Clive Eksteen and Naasei Appiah were made @KenBorland scapegoats by Moroe for the breakdown in relations with the South African Cricketers’ Association and remain suspended. In fact, I hear Van Zyl has already been found guilty of bringing the game into disrepute by a one-man disciplinary committee and that does not sound like justice, especially since Saca have absolved him, and Eksteen, of blame in their dispute.

But it is vital that we do not think the woes that South African cricket have been drowning in over the last couple of years are the fault of one man alone. However much we like to demonise Moroe, and his whole agenda seemed to be about seizing power for himself, he could not and did not commit his misdeeds by himself.

A thoroughly incompetent, dysfunctional board needs to be thrown into the marinade when we consider the bigger picture of South African cricket.

It is they who appointed and have allowed a CEO to throw the whole organisation into crisis; for them to say they are not complicit is veering into the realms of delusional disorder. I can recall many occasions when board members, especially wanna-be president-for-life Chris Nenzani, now into an unprecedented third term because he had the CSA constitution changed, staunchly defended Moroe and his actions.

A prime example of the calibre of person that has been sitting on the CSA board comes in the form of Eastern Province president Donovan May. He said the whole crisis in South African cricket was a creation of the media and that the CSA board are actually doing “a very good job”.

The fact that this man suffers from a severe lack of judgment was shown in a speech he gave at a function at St George’s Park earlier this year when his official address included a reference to the Barmy Army coming to Port Elizabeth and “impregnating all our women”.

“We’ll have to give them lots of drink to stop them…and we all know how much they enjoy getting drunk at the cricket,” he continued.

South African cricket, a billion-rand industry and beloved by so many in this country, deserves to be run by top-class people. Ideally, sitting on the board of CSA should not be their primary source of income, but it seems that is what it has come down to given the recalcitrance of people who have utterly failed in their jobs to vacate their positions.

Thankfully, the good news surrounding the Proteas means it will be a happy Christmas, for it to be a prosperous new year though we need a new CSA board.

Aluta Continua!