“There is an awkward narrative coming out that third world countries can’t manage these things properly. In my view, we have been managing the virus much better than England has been.” – Zak Yacoob, CSA interim board chair
TELFORD VICE | Cape Town
THE leader of CSA’s interim board has slammed England for abandoning their tour of South Africa. Eoin Morgan’s squad were scheduled to leave the country on Thursday with half of the six white-ball games they were supposed to play postponed indefinitely.
Zak Yacoob, the retired judge who chairs the board, has called that decision “negative”, rejected the theory that South Africa’s Covid-19 protocols were not up to standard, and said South Africa’s players resented their opponents being afforded what was considered preferential treatment. He stopped short of demanding an apology from the English.
Seven positive tests for the virus among members of the South African and English squads, as well as two staff members at the Vineyard hotel in Cape Town where the players and their support staff were staying in a bio-secure environment, were announced after England arrived on November 17. The two cases in the England camp were later declared false positives.
England won the T20I series 3-0, but the start of the ODI rubber was delayed three times in four days because of positive tests. That prompted England’s players to drive the decision to scupper the tour.
“What I want to negate is the idea that our provision of services was sub-standard, and that there is any justification for the English saying that they did not want to participate and going home,” Yacoob told an online press conference on Thursday. “The facts are that ultimately [England] were negative.”
Yacoob was adamant CSA’s anti-virus measures were up to scratch: “We have gone into our protocols, and we think that [they] have been very good. There may have been an issue of psychological troubles. People may have felt nervous and complicated about the false positives, and so on. We do not wish to blame the English, but we wish to say absolutely and completely that any notion that they went away was our fault is completely wrong.”
South Africa has around half the coronavirus infection rate compared to the United Kingdom, a fact not lost on Yacoob: “There is an awkward narrative coming out that third world countries can’t manage these things properly. In my view, we have been managing the virus much better than England has been.”
The visitors took a dim view of South Africa’s squad gathering for a barbecue on the first evening that the parties were in the bubble. But whereas a small number of the South Africans took to the golf course once, CSA has confirmed that some of the English played golf on eight separate days at five different courses between 13 kilometres and 72 kilometres away from the hotel.
Yacoob suggested England recognise they were more privileged than their hosts: “The only criticism [of the protocols] I can make is that we were too lax with the English and their desire to do things that, in our strict view, they shouldn’t be doing. Unfortunately we were stronger in preventing our players from doing things and we allowed the visitors a little more laxity. We favoured the visitors just a little, not enough to compromise the thing. The problem with that was that it did give rise to some feelings of unfairness as far as our players were concerned. The board regretted that a great deal.”
England were also accused of violating virus protocols by training in an out-of-bounds area at Newlands. They said the practice facilities that were provided were “unacceptable” and that they had created “a security cordon to ensure the players and coaches could enter the facility safely”.
Did Yacoob want the ECB to say sorry for the tour going awry? “I don’t think we want an apology from anyone, but if they say lies about us we will defend ourselves. I’m prepared to leave it on the basis that we do understand, although it is sometimes difficult for us to understand, the sensitivities of the matter. We’ve got this virus for the first time and we do understand how people can get put off. Therefore we have to give people the benefit of the doubt.”
Sri Lanka are due to arrive in South Africa next week to play two Tests, but there has been speculation that SLC wanted the series moved to Sri Lanka or postponed. Yacoob said he was “95% certain” the Lankans would keep their end of the bargain. He was less sure about Australia, who are scheduled to tour for three Tests in February and March: “It depends on what Australia thinks is in its political interest. Australia is a powerhouse in cricket, and powerful people are usually laws unto themselves.”
Reports have said CA are considering asking CSA to move the series to Perth, but Graeme Smith, CSA’s director of cricket, said conversations had yet to start: “We’re only having our first operational planning meeting with CA next week. There’s been no engagement up until this point.”
As Yacoob was appointed by Nathi Mthethwa, the minister of sport, he is free to kick a hole in the company line, rather than toe it, without some CSA suit trying to rein him in. And it’s bracingly refreshing to hear someone attached to an organisation known for weasel wording its way into and out of almost every situation voice their views with such strength and clarity. But he may want to spare a thought for people like Smith, who could have to clear the air of tetchiness when next he speaks to his English and Australian counterparts.
First published by Cricbuzz.
Bulletproof Truth 