Hard road ahead to clean up cricket mess

Each and every board member of Cricket SA (CSA) should hang their heads in shame. The crisis that has unravelled in CSA did not begin last week — the body has been limping from one crisis to another for months, while board members sat back and watched. It is thus incomprehensible that with the suspension of CEO Thabang Moroe, the board has not been dissolved for its complicity in the downfall of cricket in our country.

This despite reports that eight provinces had resolved on Thursday that they should be sacked.

The effects of poor management, claims of cronyism and maladministration are far-reaching — not just financially but for cricket development at a grassroots level.

After 23 years, Standard Bank pulled its sponsorship, a massive blow to the sport because it was worth almost R100m a year over four years.

Sadly, it is the players who will be hardest hit because it means less money for the sport, especially so at developmental level.

But more importantly, South Africans have lost faith in the game,

How will faith be restored if the same people who looked on while CSA collapsed are still at the helm?

The performance of our teams is bound to suffer.

It is time for CSA to do what is best for the game. We welcome the appointment of Titans CEO Jacques Faul as Moroe’s interim replacement — he is experienced and a respected administrator.

Cleaning up the mess in CSA is a job he knows well, having done so before in the aftermath of the Nicholson report, when he stood in for then CEO Gerald Majola.

He and the rest of the heads have the difficult task of trying to steer cricket back to what it is meant to be about, which is the game.

The road ahead will be a long and difficult one, but it is of the utmost importance that they waste no time in restoring the credibility of the sport.