MSL – Bulletproof Truth

IPL links in CSA T20 plan

“CSA has an opportunity to launch a project that could redefine the landscape and economics of cricket in South Africa.” – CSA on their latest T20 project.

Telford Vice | Cape Town

FORMER IPL kingpin Sundar Raman has a stake in the company that will try to catapult South Africa into the travelling T20 circus. That should convince potential investors that CSA are serious about their third attempt to secure a slice of the global tournament pie. Others will see the irony in Raman being cast as part of a solution to a problem he could be considered to have helped cause.

A document headlined “MSL: Re-imagined”, seen by Cricbuzz, was presented at a special CSA members council meeting on April 25. In it, Raman is listed as holding a 12.5% share in the company unveiled on Friday as the vehicle to drive the establishment of the tournament. CSA own 57.5% and broadcasters SuperSport the remaining 30%. The first edition of the as yet unnamed six-team competition is planned for January 2023.

If successful, the tournament will do what the stillborn the Global League T20 and the short-lived Mzansi Super League did not: make money. The document says CSA spent close on USD32-million on the two ventures. The most significant return was the USD1.6-million CSA were paid in rights fees by the South African Broadcasting Corporation for the 2019 MSL, the last time the tournament was played.

The league’s central costs, which excludes expenditure specific to each team, are estimated at USD56-million over 10 years. SuperSport have committed USD89-million to the project, and a minimum of USD30-million in central revenue over 10 years has been forecast. The latter will be shared equally between the league and the teams, who will keep funds generated by shirt sponsorships, ticket sales, hospitality and food and beverage sales. From the 11th year of the competition’s existence, teams will pay the league 20% of their revenue as a franchise fee.

Prize money has been estimated at USD2-million, and teams will have USD1.5-million to spend on signing players.

The document says “letters/expressions of interest” from potential investors have been received from the Delhi Capitals, the Chennai Super Kings, the Mumbai Indians, the Rajasthan Royals, and a “Kevin Pietersen-led consortium”.

CSA are understandably in awe of the blockbusting IPL, which has provided the blueprint for T20 tournaments everywhere. The document acknowledges that “the success of the IPL has changed the face and the economics of the BCCI; and CSA also has an opportunity to launch a project that a decade from now could redefine the landscape and economics of cricket in South Africa”. The other side of the equation is that “save for the IPL … success from cricketing and economic perspectives has been varied”. Indeed, “Outside of the IPL, no other premier domestic T20 league has had runaway success”. What to do? “CSA should therefore focus on the opportunity to create the second-best T20 league in the world.”

That is easier said than done, as cricketminded South Africans discovered in September 2017 — when then CSA chief executive Haroon Lorgat was ousted on the brink, according to some sources, of securing a broadcast deal for what was to have been the GLT20. The MSL, less ambitious in that the franchises were owned by CSA, was a vanity project that was never going to be profitable.

CSA’s toxic culture of backstabbing and dishonesty fuelled by palace politics and greed has been a major factor in cricket in the country losing public and sponsor trust. Three of CSA’s four permanently appointed chief executives have left in dubious circumstances, and government pressure was needed to persuade the chronically dysfunctional former board to resign in October 2020. By then, heavyweight sponsors had walked away.

But even CSA can’t be blamed for all the game’s ills. In February 2014, the BCCI — with the support of their England and Australia counterparts — engineered a takeover of the ICC that skewed the game’s finances in favour of the already richer national boards. India, the richest of them all, hiked their share of the 2016 to 2023 rights cycle to USD440,000,000. The then 93 associate countries would have made USD230,000,000 between them over the same period. Or almost 180 times less than India. Each.

India’s argument was that, as they made most of cricket’s money, they should keep the largest share of the profits. Other boards objected, and in April 2017 it was decided that India would get USD293,000,000, and each of the rest of the full members USD132,000,000. The associates would share USD280,000,000. Cricket in South Africa has never really recovered.

The BCCI president who sparked that revolution was N. Srinivasan. His righthand man? Sundar Raman. Eight years later, Raman — the IPL’s first chief of operations and later its chief executive — is involved in trying to undo some of the ramifications of the changes Srinivasan wrought.

It’s not too late and it might not be too little, but helping to drag cricket in South Africa out of the financial ditch it has stumbled into could go down as the singular triumph of Raman’s career. If, of course, he does.

First published by Cricbuzz.

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Will CSA, SuperSport learn from past T20 troubles?

Less smoke and mirrors, more substance required for success.

Telford Vice | Cape Town

AN espresso at the hotel in the posh Knightsbridge district of London where CSA launched what was then to be called the T20 Global League (T20GL) costs £8. You can buy a better coffee in the grittier east end of the city for almost a quarter of that price.

Not that attendees at the function, held the day after Pakistan thrashed India by 180 runs in the 2017 Champions Trophy final at the Oval, were asked to pay for anything. Some of them, especially the former South Africa players flown out especially for the occasion and who had no connection to the tournament, might have wondered why they were there. At least the South African journalists present, whose trip to London was also paid for by CSA, could report to earn their keep.

CSA’s attempts to join the travelling circus of franchise T20 tournaments has been more about smoke and mirrors than substance. Might the as yet unnamed event CSA announced on Friday, to be inaugurated in January 2023, be different? It has two cautionary tales to learn from.

What was rebranded, for some no doubt expensive reason, as the Global League T20 (GLT20) never happened. Instead the planning for it became the hook on which to hang Haroon Lorgat’s CSA blazer as he exited the chief executive’s office in September 2017. The board and Lorgat, a release at the time said, had “mutually agreed to part ways with immediate effect”. The separation was anything but amicable. The board said Lorgat wasn’t sharing with them important information about the tournament. Lorgat said he was getting on with his job, an important part of which was seeing a project he had conceptualised to fruition.

Expectations had been that the T20GL or GLT20 or whatever it was going to end up being called would pump more than USD30-million into CSA’s coffers annually purely from the franchise owners’ licensing fees. Instead the cancellation cost CSA USD2-million in refunded deposits to the owners, who were paid another USD1.44-million in settlements.

That was a bad outcome, but maybe not the worst. To say the owners didn’t inspire confidence is putting it politely. One of them was intent on hosting gatherings in a strip club. Another wondered lonely as a cloud about launching a satellite into space to beam matches back to earth. There were allegations of nepotism in the awarding of supplier contracts at still another franchise.

The stillborn tournament morphed into the Mzansi Super League (MSL), which did see the light of day — or even the floodlights of day/night — in 2018. And again in 2019. It looked good on television, it involved prominent players, foreign and domestic, and it gleamed as a seeming success in a South African cricket administration landscape strewn with scrapheaps of failure. But those two editions of the MSL cost CSA more than USD12-million and became emblematic of the governance catastrophes that blighted the game under Thabang Moroe, Lorgat’s since sacked successor. Consequently the tournament hasn’t been seen since, and not only because of the pandemic.

A release on Friday said the six franchises who will play in the new venture would be privately owned, unlike the MSL sides, who were the property of CSA. The key difference with both previous attempts is that SuperSport are on board. A major factor in the plug being pulled on the GLT20 was the lack of a confirmed broadcaster. The first sticking point was that CSA considered the tournament new business, and thus worthy of an additional payment from longtime broadcast partners SuperSport — who argued that the GLT20 should be covered in what they had already paid. CSA won that debate, but then the parties couldn’t reach an understanding about how much more was warranted.

The MSL was shown on the free-to-air South African Broadcasting Corporation’s (SABC) channels. That meant it reached a far larger audience than if it had been on SuperSport, which is part of an expensive subscription service. But it also meant CSA made no money, because the cash-strapped SABC, the state broadcaster, paid nothing for the rights.

So the fact that CSA and SuperSport have, according to Friday’s release, “signed an agreement to form a new company that will manage” the competition is good news. It means the domestic rights are in the hands of a trusted broadcaster. And, probably, that fences between CSA and SuperSport are being mended.

In December and January, SuperSport said they would divest from longstanding partnerships with CSA’s affiliates in the Western Province and KwaZulu-Natal. SuperSport are among few symbols of excellence in a struggling national economy. Their decisions matter. In February, Cricbuzz requested an interview with SuperSport chief executive Marc Jury, a former CSA commercial manager, to discuss the reasons for the divestment and their implications. We were asked to provide written questions, which we did. The interview never materialised, but SuperSport wrote back with answers, which they said could be attributed to Jury. Here are the questions and the answers:

What will change for the South African cricketlover now that SuperSport are not invested in the game as directly as they were before, and why?

“You will be aware that the SuperSport investments in cricket teams go back as far as two decades to a time when cricket became increasingly professional globally. As equity partners, we have enjoyed excellent relationships with the teams concerned.”

Is it too cynical to think SuperSport have divested from the entities that cost too much and have become too much of a drag on your resources? If not, why not?

“Both the Dolphins and Western Province have enjoyed success on the playing fields over many years and have had stable governance and administration systems. We have been proud to assist these franchises in achieving their success.”

Because of SuperSport’s investment they have had a significant influence on important issues in cricket that go beyond broadcasters’ accepted remit. Why would you give that up?

“SuperSport regularly reviews all investments to determine whether such investments still fit within the company’s overall strategic approach to our business.”

In a release announcing SuperSport’s divestment from Western Province, you were quoted as saying: “Cricket is moving into an exciting space and we at SuperSport look forward to what is to come.” Could you elaborate on what that exciting space might be, and on what is to come?

“Given these reviews and recent changes in the domestic competitions structure of CSA, we deemed it an appropriate time to divest as equity partners while continuing our relationships with the cricket teams in areas other than as shareholders. We have entered into sponsorship agreements with both the Dolphins and WP Cricket to further underpin our satisfaction with the way in which they conduct their business and as part of our commitment to continue contributing to South African cricket.”

South African sport would be far smaller and more impoverished without SuperSport, but do you accept that the company’s multiple roles could be seen as fostering conflicts of interest?

“SuperSport remains committed to South African cricket, in particular, and in general to South African and African sport and we will continue to invest in sport and our young sporting talent. In this regard, we have, for example, now invested in a streaming platform, SuperSport Schools, with the focus on giving exposure to school sport across sports codes throughout the country.”

If all that leaves you with the impression that SuperSport want to put as much corporate-speak as possible between themselves and the people who pay handsomely to watch their channels, you are not alone. The company have become a byword for steely aloofness that sometimes spills over into arrogance. But they are also the barometer of what constitutes success in sport in South Africa. Coming after the GLT20 debacle and the divestments, Friday’s news looks like a signal that relations between the two organisations have improved.

And that SuperSport has retained enough trust in CSA to build on their existing relationship despite the troubling departure of the respected Graeme Smith, who did not want to continue as director of cricket when his contract expired at the end of March. The agreement will also be seen as a vote of confidence in Pholetsi Moseki, CSA’s new chief executive.

Was Smith involved in the planning for the new tournament? How about former IPL chief operating officer Sundar Raman? Their names weren’t mentioned in Friday’s release, and when CSA were asked whether either they had worked on the project, a spokesperson said: “If any other players are involved, that information would have found its way into the issued release.” Cricbuzz have been told Smith and Raman were part of the process.

The next trick will be to sell the rights internationally, and for the newly formed company to secure investors. That tenders have apparently yet to be called for will raise eyebrows, not least because that was part of the reason CSA’s board cited for canning the GLT20.

If all goes well, six teams will take the field early next January — the only regularly available window in the T20 calendar — to play 33 matches. As was the case in the MSL, the selected XIs will include foreign players and will not have to meet CSA’s transformation targets. The sides will play a double round of matches, and the top three will progress to the knockout rounds.

We’re a long way from that happening. If it happens. But we know that, by then, the price of an espresso in Knightsbridge will have risen. And that we will have seen more smoke and mirrors.

First published by Cricbuzz.

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A smile to delight and disgust

“Maybe we have to say we back our coaches and management and we need to give them a lot of love.” – Dean Elgar

Telford Vice | Cape Town

WHEN Dean Elgar smiles, pay careful attention. It’s not that South Africa’s Test captain doesn’t crack a grin as often as anyone else. He does, maybe more than most. But what makes his face light up sets him apart from those made of different, perhaps less sturdy stuff.

Mention tough times and see him beam. This comes with the territory. Opening batters accept as part of the job challenges that are beyond the abilities of those who will come to the crease after them. Some know this from the start of their careers. Others learn the lesson soon enough, or they don’t last. Elgar has lasted with the best of them.

He had 21 first-class innings before he opened the batting, for the Eagles against the Titans in Bloemfontein in February 2007 — and promptly scored 225. He made a pair on Test debut, at the WACA in November 2012, when he batted at No. 6. But two innings later he banked the first of his 13 centuries, an unbeaten 103 against New Zealand at St George’s Park in January 2013, batting at No. 7. Six innings after that he opened for the first time at that level. He has done so in 94 of his 120 Test innings, and exclusively since July 2014. Mixed and matched between the numbers is the character of a throwback to the days when cricketers didn’t care who they offended, as long as they put their team first.

So questions about South Africa’s problems on and off the field had Elgar smiling wide at an online press conference on Tuesday. The latest calamity was the withdrawal on Tuesday of Anrich Nortjé, South Africa’s most successful bowler in the format this year with 25 wickets at 20.76 in five matches, from the imminent series against India because of a hip injury.

That ends the debate about the inclusion in the squad of Duanne Olivier, who said in answer to a reporter’s question after he signed a Kolpak contract with Yorkshire in February 2019 that he would want to play for England. The end of the Kolpak era on December 31 last year brought Olivier back into contention for South Africa, where he has been the stand-out bowler in the first-class competition this season with 28 wickets at 11.10 in four matches for the Lions. Thus Olivier, who took 48 wickets at 19.25 in 10 Tests before his defection, thoroughly deserves a recall. But South Africans who confuse sport with patriotism have been angered by his selection.

Elgar is not among them: “I’m excited to have him back, knowing what he can do on the field. There’s no bad feelings about what’s happened in the past. I want to win cricket matches and series for South Africa, and I’m sure I’ve got 100% backing in our changeroom when it comes to that.

“He adds a different intensity and energy. You can see he’s a different cricketer to what he was the first time he played for us, which is awesome. He played a lot of cricket in the UK, so he’s bringing a lot of knowledge and experience to the changeroom. That’s something we need at the moment. He’s a matchwinner. If he can win cricket matches for us I’m all for having him back.”

The Nortjé setback came on the back of a blue Monday of news. First CSA said they would investigate Graeme Smith and Mark Boucher, the director of cricket and the men’s national team coach, in the new year in the wake of the Social Justice and Nation-Building (SJN) project making adverse “tentative findings” about them regarding allegations of racist conduct. That was followed by the scrapping of the third edition of the Mzansi Super League, which was to have been played in February, for financial and Covid reasons. Then CSA announced that the stands would be empty during India’s tour of three Tests and as many ODIs, also over pandemic fears.

As an international of more than nine years’ standing and a first-class player for more than three years before that, strife and bungling in South African cricket is nothing new to Elgar. Even so, the governance and financial depths the game has crashed to in the past four years have been remarkable even by CSA’s lowly standards.

“We’ve been through such crappy times that we’ve actually formulated such a good bond within our group,” Elgar said. “If we were in the first month of all these bad scenarios, then maybe we could use that as an excuse. But we’ve been there, and we’ve formulated something that works for us. We’re extremely strong. Our culture’s been tested and pushed to levels I didn’t think it would have been pushed to in my short term as captain [since March]. I think we’ve come out on top of it. It’s about the learning process behind it. We must always be mindful that even if things are bad off the field we can’t use that as a cop-out. We’re a professional team and professional players, and we want to strive to go up the rankings. We focus on cricket and hopefully cricket will look after us.”

But it seems the testimony implicating figures like Smith and Boucher at the SJN, the negative reaction that followed, and the project’s report — which is vague and clumsily compiled and being challenged by lawyers, hence CSA’s probe — had indeed permeated the dressing room walls. Certainly, Elgar’s contempt for the suits was plain. As was his dissatisfaction with what he saw as their lack of support.

“We’ve had so many different administrators that we don’t even know who’s there now,” he said. “We haven’t had a lot of stability from an administrative point of view. Hopefully sooner than later there’s a lot more stability within CSA.

“Backing has been tough, especially with regards to our coaches and our team management. I don’t think we’ve received a lot of good stuff around that. From the players’ point of view, maybe we have to say we back our coaches and management and we need to give them a lot of love.

“It’s not nice to see our coaches get lambasted for things. I know the work they’re putting in behind the scenes, which no-one else sees. Only us as a players’ group notice that, and we’re extremely grateful. That’s one of the biggest downsides of what’s been happening the last while.”

As much as opinions like that, and the way they are expressed, will delight some South Africans, they will disgust others — particularly many of Elgar’s black and brown compatriots, who see the SJN as a rare opportunity for truth and reflection in the ongoing conversation about race in South African cricket, which remains skewed towards white interests in many senses — from the number of white players in the national teams to the location of the grounds where those sides appear.

So Elgar will doubtless be criticised for his comments. The only way that blow can be blunted will be for him to perform and for his team to win. He sounded up for the task: “It doesn’t matter which teammates I’ve had in the past, I’ve always wanted to be someone who leads from the front with the bat. Scoring runs is massive for me, let alone being the captain and making decisions. I’m never going to run away from that responsibility.”

India’s supporters, too, won’t take kindly to Elgar saying: “We know it’s going to be tough. It’s also going to be tough for the Indian batters to face our bowlers. I’d rather be sitting here knowing that than sitting in the Indian dressing room knowing that they have to face our bowlers.”

Similarly, asked about Ravichandran Ashwin’s record against South Africa — the off-spinner has taken 53 wickets at 19.75 against them — Elgar lurched onto the front foot: “He hasn’t had a lot of success in South Africa. You can’t really compare the success he has had in India against our batters because the conditions are so different. It’s not realistic for us to focus on that.” Indeed, Ashwin averages 15.73 against South Africa in India, and 46.14 in South Africa. In Elgar’s follow-through, he tempered his answer with: “He’s one of the best off-spinners India have produced, and we’re mindful of that.” But there could be no mistaking his bracing aggression.

Expect to see plenty of it in the first Test at Centurion on Sunday. There it was again near the end of Elgar’s presser after the media manager listed the names of the reporters who would ask the last questions.

“And then my words are finished,” Elgar said. Through a smile, of course.

First published by Cricbuzz.

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South Africa in 2020: Covid-19, England’s unfinished tour, and Nathi Mthethwa

Telford Vice | Johannesburg

CRICKET itself was relegated to the wings in a year like no other. There were few successes for South Africa’s supporters to savour, and administrators who, until late in the piece, proved themselves anything but trustworthy custodians of the game. And, of course, there was Covid-19. Here are a few of the high and low lights:

The Cricket

Seven wins from 18 completed games — and the other 11 lost, and only one series won — is no-one’s idea of a good year at the office. South Africa’s sole success was in the ODI rubber against Australia in February and March, and they drew the ODIs against England. But that paled next to a Test series loss to England and T20I stumbles against Australia and England, twice. South Africa seemed to lose their grit, and with it their ability to fetch victory from unfetchable places, especially in white-ball games. They also lost Faf du Plessis as Test captain in February, but that wasn’t relevant until Sri Lanka arrived in December. Of greater significance was the instability in administration: CSA ended the year with its third acting chief executive amid multiple suspensions.

The Pandemic

England scrapped half of the six white-ball games they were to have played in December in the wake of positive tests for the virus from inside the squads’ shared bio-bubble in Cape Town. That cost CSA some USD1.9-million in broadcast revenue. Or did it? One of the last things Kugandrie Govender did before she was suspended as acting chief executive was insist that the money hadn’t been lost because the matches had been postponed, not cancelled. South Africa’s ODI series in India in March never happened. The first match was washed out and the other two cancelled. A white ball to Sri Lanka in June was scrapped. Test and T20 series against West Indies in the Caribbean and the US, originally scheduled to start in June before being moved to July and August, have yet to be allocated new dates. South Africa’s women’s team had series against Australia, West Indies and England called off.

What about domestic cricket?

CSA said in September that the third edition of the Mzansi Super League had been postponed to 2021 because of “various national and international logistical reasons caused by the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic”. Closer to the probable truth was that it made sense to call off the money-bleeding tournament. Five rounds of the franchise first-class competition have been played, but a match in the most recent round was called off after a day because of positive tests. That led to the postponement, in December, of the entire sixth round. If there is an upside to the virus, it’s that domestic players remain on their full salary and that money is being saved on travel and accommodation costs.

Person of the Year

Nathi Mthethwa. You won’t find his name on a scorecard or among the administrators. But it was left to South Africa’s sports minister to knock some sense into the heads of CSA’s board, its members council, and the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee – which Mthethwa had initially directed to root out cricket’s rot. Under pressure from Mthethwa, the entire board resigned in October. In November, an interim board was appointed for three months with the buy-in of the members council, the South African Cricketers’ Association and the ministry. The new structure is not perfect. One of the nine members, Omphile Ramela, has been removed and another, Xolani Vonya, recused. And the chair, former constitutional court judge Zak Yacoob, has a tendency to hector some of those who question him. But, not before time, the suits’ pinstripes are pointing in the right direction.

What’s in store for 2021, on and off the field?

South Africa will finish their Test series against Sri Lanka at the Wanderers. Then they will be in Pakistan, for the first time since 2007, for two Tests and three T20Is in January and February. Australia are due in February to play three Tests, followed by Pakistan, for six white-ball games ending in April. All of which is, of course, Covid-permitting. And dependent on CSA staying in business, which is not a given. In November it announced a broadcast deal with Star reportedly worth up to USD105-million and another, in December, with Fox. But a projection that CSA will be USD68-million in debt by the end of the 2022 rights cycle still hangs over the organisation’s head. And there’s no telling what the pandemic will do to those figures.

One to look out for in 2021

Because of injuries, Wiaan Mulder hadn’t played a Test for 22 months when he earned his second cap against Sri Lanka at Centurion. Five wickets and a handy 36 in his only innings later, you wonder what might have been. And what might yet be …

First published by Cricbuzz.

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By George, this Linde might have it

There’s a touch of a young Clint Eastwood to George Linde’s jib, and some of Kepler Wessels’ cussedness in his saunter.

TELFORD VICE | Paarl

This time last week George Linde was minding his own business in the bio-bubble, the odd man out in South Africa’s T20I squad. He had last played a match in the format almost a year previously, when he conceded 18 runs in the only over he bowled and was run out for two. Why did South Africa want him around considering they had Tabraiz Shamsi and Keshav Maharaj? Even Jon-Jon Smuts seemed ahead of him in the queue, albeit Smuts is more a batting than a bowling allrounder.

Linde’s performance was far from the reason the Cape Town Blitz lost to the Nelson Mandela Bay Giants at Newlands on December 6 — his most recent T20 before the current series against England — but you wouldn’t have thought he was on course for a place in South Africa’s side.

He played six matches out of a possible 10 in last season’s Mzansi Super League, took five wickets, was 24th in terms of economy rate among bowlers who had sent down at least 10 overs — and 14 places off the bottom of that list — and couldn’t score more than 63 runs in six innings, two of them unfinished. If Linde had potential to play in the shortest format at the highest level, it wasn’t self-evident.

So expectations weren’t high when he was named in the XI for Friday’s first T20I at Newlands, and had dwindled further when he came to the crease with eight balls left in an innings that had shambled to 161/5. But there’s a touch of a young Clint Eastwood to Linde’s jib, and some of Kepler Wessels’ cussedness in his saunter, and he didn’t seem surprised when he lashed the third ball he faced through extra cover for four. The seventh, a full toss, disappeared over square leg for six. Maybe this “kid” — he turns 29 next Sunday — could play the game at this level after. But the proof would be in his strong suit.

Accordingly, expectations perked when he stood at the top of his run holding the new ball. And peaked when Jason Roy leapt at the second delivery like a man taking a spade to a snake. Quinton de Kock held the edge, and Linde had made his case. It needed the skill and quick thinking of Kagiso Rabada, diving low and forward at square leg, to claim a catch from Dawid Malan’s scything sweep. But catch it Rabada did, and there it was: after nine deliveries, Linde had figures of 2/2.

South Africa lost, convincingly, a match that clearly was their first in almost nine months. They batted too boldly, bowled too breezily, and made too many decisions better suited to beach cricket. But Linde’s performance was a reason for them to be if not cheerful then at least cheered that attitudes were in the right place.

Would the second game of the series in Paarl on Sunday deliver more such evidence? Or was that too much to expect considering South Africa’s state of unreadiness, at least some of it due to lockdown regulations?

Certainly, unexpectedness was in the air in the hours before the match, what with a posse of riders from the Draconian Motorcycle Club — as their leather jackets proclaimed — forming part of the motorway traffic heading to Paarl on a hot, bright morning. The club’s Facebook page implores members to support efforts to raise awareness about what the racist right wing calls, falsely, an epidemic of farm murders in South Africa. All of 21,022 people were murdered in South Africa from April 2018 to March 2019. Only 57 of all the country’s murder victims in 2019 were farmers. The Draconians wore helmets, so it wasn’t possible to tell if some of their members were the white former players who have raised the same red herring in their criticism of cricketers espousing or supporting Black Lives Matter ideals.

About that, at Newlands two banners were affixed to the stands reading: “We stand in solidarity against racism and gender based violence. CSA stands for equality.” Neither of the banners made it to Paarl. Maybe there was too much motorcycle traffic on the motorway.

This time Linde took guard in the 14th over with South Africa having crashed to 95/5. He turned the first ball he faced off his hip, easy as you like, for two. He survived an appeal for leg-before by Jofra Archer, coming round the wicket, hit his team’s first four in 10 overs when he slapped Tom Curran through cover, and launched Curran’s next ball over long-on for six. Then he sent Chris Jordan’s attempted yorker scurrying through third man for four. He was run out for a 20-ball 29 to end a stand of 44, the biggest of the innings, he shared with Rassie van der Dussen.

Soon there Linde was again, standing at the top of his run, new ball in hand. Roy made another mad lunge, this time at the first delivery of the innings, and damn near edged it again. But there were no more wickets for Linde. Not yet, anyway. Even so, 0/27 from four overs is more than decent against a bristling batting line-up on a flat if slow pitch.

South Africa lost again, though less convincingly, and with that went the series. It’s unfair on Quinton de Kock considering his inexperience as a captain, but the fact is he now owns the worst record of all 11 leaders the South Africans have had in this format: played 10, won three.

But Shamsi, whose spirited bowling that earned him a return of 3/19 was another spot of sunshine in the gloom, wasn’t looking too deeply into all that. “We haven’t played together for nine months,” he said after that match. “So it’s going to take us a little bit of time to gel again. There’s no need to panic.”

Not to panic, but to be concerned going into the now irrelevant third match at Newlands on Tuesday. And, if that doesn’t go well enough, ahead of the three ODIs.

But while you have odd men out like Kepler Eastwood in the side, players who know how to get a job done even when belief in their ability to do so wavers, you have something. It’s called hope. You also have something else: a way to meet those pesky expectations.

First published by Cricbuzz.

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Covid claims MSL

Tournament postponed due to “various national and international logistical reasons caused by the effects of the pandemic”, but CSA will save money.

TELFORD VICE | Cape Town

ONE of the few remaining reasons for supporters to be cheerful about South African cricket was snuffed out on Monday when CSA announced the postponement of the 2020-21 Mzansi Super League (MSL). But the grinches who have to balance the books will be relieved.

Amid the rubble of the rest of the domestic game, ongoing administrative and governance crises, and South Africa’s indifferent form last summer, the second edition of the MSL last season was a beacon of hope. And that despite CSA having failed to secure major sponsors or a profitable broadcast deal for the tournament. The competition culminated in a stirring victory in the final for the most passionately supported team, the Paarl Rocks, in front of a deliriously happy home crowd.

Don’t expect more of the same in the coming summer. A release blamed the postponement on “various national and international logistical reasons caused by the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic”.

Acting chief executive Kugandrie Govender was quoted as saying: “The 2020-21 global cricket calendar will be jam-packed, appreciating the ICC’s efforts to fit as many missed international tours due to Covid-19 into this period. The impact of revised calendars for international cricket across all ICC members and other T20 leagues have had a knock-on effect on South African cricket scheduling.

“The Covid-19 restrictions and uncertainty around international travel, including the state of control of South African borders, as well as border control at the country points of departure of international players, also compelled CSA to make this rational decision. Also, the unavailability of national players due to a revised and saturated season, would have diluted the quality that CSA envisions for MSL.

“The fact that we would have to play in empty grounds was another consideration, not only financially but also for player morale and team spirit, which links to fan support.”

Instead of the MSL, and to prepare the players for the men’s T20 World Cup in India in October and November next year, a single round domestic franchise T20 competition will be staged in the second half of the impending summer.

Then there’s money, of which CSA has little what with their losses projected to mount to the equivalent of USD58.6-million in 2022. Or, as the release said, “CSA also deliberated that its international broadcast revenue or earnings could decrease should the MSL tournament continue without the international and national cricket superstars”.

The first two MSL tournaments are understood to have cost CSA the equivalent of USD11.7-million. That’s the best reason there could be for Monday’s announcement.

Whatever the fans want, or don’t want, has to be a secondary consideration for a game that was struggling to stay afloat even before the new reality made that exponentially more difficult.

But no doubt the celebrations have already started in Paarl: nobody is going to take the title from the Rocks for a while yet.

First published by Cricbuzz.

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Over up for Eksteen at CSA

Spinner turned suit bounced out of his job.

TELFORD VICE | Cape Town

CRICKET South Africa (CSA) said on Sunday they had sacked Clive Eksteen, their head of sales and sponsor relations. In October Eksteen was among the first of what became, by December, seven suspended senior staff members.

A release said “a lengthy disciplinary process” ended with the presiding officer finding Eksteen, a left-arm spinner who played seven Tests and six ODIs between November 1991 and February 2000, “guilty of transgressions of a serious nature and his relationship and employment with CSA has therefore been summarily terminated (summary dismissal) with immediate effect”.

On October 30 CSA said they had suspended Eksteen, then interim director of cricket Corrie van Zyl and chief operating officer Naasei Appiah after the organisation had “recently become aware of an unfortunate situation involving players and player contracts, through player intermediary the South African Cricketers Association (SACA) in which speculation and indeed allegations of dereliction were levelled against CSA, following alleged non-payment of player fees, stemming from the Mzansi Super League (MSL) arrangement, in 2018”.

That followed SACA lodging a formal dispute against CSA because they had failed to pay the players the agreed amount of USD160,000, at the prevailing exchange rate, for the use of their commercial rights during the previous year’s MSL. The bill was settled only 10 days before the start of the 2019 edition of the tournament.

SACA smelled a rat. “We are very surprised that Naasei Appiah, Corrie van Zyl and Clive Eksteen have been suspended in relation to allegations surrounding CSA’s non-compliance with the 2018 MSL commercial agreement,” then chief executive Tony Irish was quoted as saying in a release on October 31. “SACA didn’t deal with Appiah on this issue and in its dealings with Van Zyl and Eksteen over many months they both expressed a strong desire to resolve the payment issue, but it eventually became clear that higher approval to do so was necessary.”

That approval, SACA’s release suggested, was in the purview of chief executive Thabang Moroe: “We think it’s highly unlikely that [Moroe] would not have been aware of this ongoing issue. He was undoubtedly aware of payment obligations as he had signed the agreement.”

CSA’s release the day before had quoted Moroe as saying: “CSA wants to reassure all cricket fans and all cricket stakeholders that our organisation and indeed our staff adhere to the highest ethical standards in all our dealings and that consistency and accountability remains uppermost in all our processes and procedures. It is our expectation that all our staff members, including third-party stakeholders who are associated with the CSA brand should protect the reputation of CSA and the sport of cricket at all times.”

On December 6 CSA said Moroe himself had been put on “precautionary suspension with pay … on allegations of misconduct, pending further investigations”. That followed “reports received by the social and ethics committee and the audit and risk committee of the board related to possible failure of controls in the organisation” and prompted “a forensic audit of critical aspects of the business and the conduct of management related to such aspects [that] shall be conducted by an independent forensic team”.

Van Zyl has since returned to work under director of cricket Graeme Smith and Appiah is appealing a guilty verdict. But, more than six months after he was suspended, Moroe’s fate remains undecided. Sunday’s release promised progress: “CSA assures all stakeholders that the rest of the outstanding disciplinary cases will also be concluded soon, so that the situation around these matters can soon be stabilised.”

Veterans of South African cricket’s struggles with CSA won’t believe that until they see it.

First published by Cricbuzz.

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Thabang Moroe goes back to work. Sort of …

His attempt to return to his job would have looked more sincere and less like a cheap stunt had he made it online, where the rest of CSA’s staff have been working under lockdown.

TELFORD VICE | Cape Town

AN oddly familiar stranger pitched up at the gates of Cricket South Africa’s (CSA) offices in Johannesburg on Thursday morning. He was initially not allowed entry, not least because the precinct remains closed due to Covid-19 regulations. And even though he was, technically, the chief executive.

Thabang Moroe has not been CSA’s operational boss since December 6, when he was suspended for alleged misconduct. The board gave themselves six months to resolve the issue. They failed: the six months expired last week, apparently without Moroe having been presented with an official charge sheet, nevermind had his case heard.

So, on the face of it, Moroe was within his rights to report for duty. Indeed, nitpickers may ask why he hasn’t been back at work since Monday. They could also make the point that he was not wearing a face mask, a contravention of anti-coronavirus measures, when he alighted from his car at the gates. How do we know this? Because his arrival was captured in a photograph posted on social media by a reporter from a local radio station. Unsurprisingly, things might not be what they seem.

Moroe’s attempt to get back to his desk would have looked more sincere and less like a cheap stunt had he made it online, where the rest of CSA’s staff have been working under lockdown. So why, considering he is still being paid his monthly salary of USD20,600, did he pitch up in person if not to stage a public performance?

Efforts to reach Moroe were fruitless, but a source with knowledge of the situation told Cricbuzz: “The board have dropped the ball on this, but if I were him I’d sit at home and count my money. He’s arrogant, and this is a middle finger to the board. He’s saying, ‘You had your chance, now reinstate me’. But it’s not as if they don’t have anything on him.”

Whether Moroe is guilty of misusing his company credit card, as has been alleged, is not yet proven. But it is true that he struggled to sell the broadcast rights and secure major sponsors for the Mzansi Super League (MSL). And that the accreditation of five senior cricket journalists, who had reported critically on him, was temporarily revoked. He personally apologised to the reporters but by then the damage had been done.

“The fact that there was no bank gaurantee for the MSL and the repercussions of the debacle over the journalists — sponsors walked away, board members resigned, and there were calls for the others to resign — are enough to get rid of him,” the source said. “They don’t even need to look at his credit card records.”

CSA’s board met later on Thursday. Fifteen hours after Moroe’s knock at their door, they issued a release that appeared to call his bluff: “The letter of suspension issued to the chief executive officer explicitly stated that he was suspended until the conclusion of the independent forensic investigation. This investigation is not yet complete and therefore the chief executive officer remains suspended and any assertion that his suspension was for a pre-determined period is without basis. The forensic investigators have indicated that their report is imminent.

“Once the board receives the report, the board will study the report and if disciplinary action against the chief executive officer (or anyone else) [sic] is required to be taken, the board will move swiftly to institute such disciplinary action so that the matter will be resolved as soon as possible.

“This remains a matter of utmost concern to the board. The board wishes to assure all stakeholders and the public that this matter is receiving all the attention it deserves. However, the board is also at pains to ensure that due process is followed at all times.

“The board is confident that the investigation is coming to a head and there will be more clarity and certainty provided before the end of June.”

The halting legalise of the statement suggests that, six months into the saga, which followed 18 months of managerial mayhem under Moroe, the board are at last taking the issue more seriously. Or trying to be seen to be taking the issue more seriously. Either way, there would seem to be some “clarity and certainty” where little existed before. Even so, the case against Moroe can only be regarded as having taken a knock. Is that an accident?

Moroe has powerful allies within CSA at operational and board level who could be delaying justice, at least until the annual meeting scheduled for September 5, where Chris Nenzani’s tenure as president is set to end. And all the while Moroe would keep drawing his salary.

Another well-connected source posited a different theory: “Moroe could be hoping for a judge to rule, on a technicality, in his favour and he is ordered to go back to CSA. Then he negotiates a settlement payout to leave, which would be the remainder of his contract. The forensic report into Moroe’s activities could find that the board are complicit in his wrongdoing. So he could be trying to force them into a financial settlement on condition that the details of the report are not revealed.”

There are 25 months left to run on Moroe’s contract. At USD20,600 a month that amounts to USD515,000 — more than enough to drive up to a gate you know will be locked and, mask or no mask, have your picture taken.

First published by Cricbuzz.

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AB: Maybe. Or maybe not …

“It was very hurtful for me last year when people thought I assumed there was a place for me.” – AB de Villiers

TELFORD VICE in Cape Town

IF AB de Villiers plays for South Africa again, thank Mark Boucher. If he doesn’t, curse the coronavirus pandemic that has cast into doubt his mooted comeback at this year’s currently scheduled T20 World Cup.

In an interview with Afrikaans-language Sunday newspaper Rapport, De Villiers was quoted as saying, “I could write a book on ‘Bouchie’s impact just on my life, nevermind cricket. I rediscovered that when I played under him at the Spartans [in the Mzansi Super League] in December. He was born to be an instructor. When he talks there’s respect.”

De Villiers played in 176 of Boucher’s 461 matches for South Africa across the formats. When Boucher’s career was ended by an eye injury in Taunton in July 2012, during the first game of South Africa’s tour to England, De Villiers — long since a regular batter in the Test XI and already the white-ball wicketkeeper and captain — replaced him behind the stumps in whites.

Boucher’s appointment as South Africa’s coach was announced two days before last year’s MSL final in Paarl on December 16, when the Rocks won by eight wickets despite De Villiers’ 37-ball 51 for the Spartans.

By then, Boucher had spoken about to De Villiers about rescinding the decision he revealed to a shocked cricket world in May 2018, when, at 34, he walked away from the international arena.

“‘Bouch’ asked me why don’t I give it another go,” De Villiers said. “He said ‘guys like us who love cricket want you there’, and it was very good to hear that. I’ve always said to him, ‘I’ve never not wanted to be there. I’ve always wanted to be there. It’s just, my life has changed’. The situation I’m in is that it isn’t just about me and my cricket dreams anymore. I have a family now and a bunch of other things play a role: my health, how much I can play in a year and how much I can tour.”

The T20 World Cup in Australia in November and December glints on the horizon as an apt stage for De Villiers coming back. But he was mindful of avoiding a repeat of the debacle that unfolded during last year’s 50-over World Cup in England after reports emerged that his casually expressed offer to come back had been rejected. Cricket South Africa said the selectors heard of De Villiers’ proposal on the same day the squad was announced, by which time he had taken himself out of the running by not being available for South Africa’s matches before the tournament.

“I am uncertain about giving a definite answer because I have been very hurt and burned in the past,” Rapport quoted De Villiers as saying. “Then people will again think I have turned my back on our country. I can’t just walk into the team. Like every other player, I have to work for my place and deserve it. It was very hurtful for me last year when people thought I assumed there was a place for me. I feel available and I will give it a go with everything I have, but I don’t want special treatment.”

The coronavirus outbreak, which has forced the cancellation or postponement of many events, has added to the uncertainty surrounding De Villiers’ possible return. The T20 World Cup remains on the schedule, but with much of the world in lockdowns that are being extended — including in South Africa — prospects of sport resuming in the next few months are fast receding.

“I can’t see six months into the future,” De Villiers said. “If the tournament is postponed to next year a whole lot of things will change.” Part of what could be different is De Villiers’ fitness — he has a chronic back condition that has taken him off the field in the past. “At the moment I feel available, but at the same time I don’t know how my body will see it and if I will be healthy at that time.”

With little or no gametime likely before the tournament, preparing properly will be a challenge. “If I am 100% as good as I want to be, then I will be available,” De Villiers said. “But if I am not I won’t open myself up to that because I am not the type of person who does things at 80%. Then I have to do trials and show ‘Bouchie’ I’m still good enough. They should choose me because I’m really better than the guy next to me. I’ve never been the type of person who felt I should get just what I wanted.”

About all that can be confirmed about De Villiers pulling on South Africa’s green and gold kit again is that the issue remains unresolved: “I’m terribly afraid to say now yes, I’m available. And then in six months my whole life has changed as a result of the virus, or other uncertainties around the world, and I have to withdraw. Then a lot of people will be angry with me again. And even if [the T20 World Cup] is not postponed, I last played cricket in January and may not be able to play for the next three months.

“My situation could change and I might get to a point where I have to tell ‘Bouch’ I was interested I would like to play a role but I’m not going to be able to play myself. I’m afraid of such a commitment and creating false hope.”

Too late: if De Villiers doesn’t play for South Africa again might he be part of their coaching staff?

First published by Cricbuzz.

All we know is that we don’t know

“What if the game falls over, it just can’t go on?” – Jacques Faul

TELFORD VICE in Cape Town

TO all the uncertainties facing cricket and everything else, add these: your premier team is without a title sponsor, you do not have a Test captain, the chief executive and the director of cricket are temporary appointees, and you are about to advertise for a convenor of national selectors, a new women’s coach and management component, and a new under-19 men’s coach and management component. Welcome to the realities of cricket in South Africa.

The existential threat posed by the global coronavirus outbreak has the potential to obliterate civilisation as we know it. Cricket is an infinitesimally small part of that equation, and South African cricket a still smaller part. But the game here seems to be doing its best to ensure that, as Cricket South Africa (CSA) acting chief executive Jacques Faul said during an online press conference on Tuesday with an eye on the bigger picture, “The world will never be the same.”

Whether that world will include what we could call big cricket is not at all certain. Perhaps permanently, perhaps for several seasons hence, the game could be confined to backyards and parks while the grand stadiums and gracious grounds of the present are put to more important use as testing centres and field hospitals. For the first time since cricket in South Africa was officially racially unified in 1991, how many black and how many white players are in a team is irrelevant — if the team doesn’t exist, how can that matter?

“You’ve got to see what’s immediately in front of you, and then you’ve got to have a helicopter view,” Faul said. “What happens if [cricket is] not there for three months, six months, nine months …? We’ve only got to nine months, but you’ve got to take a long-term view of the scenario. You’ve got to assess the resources available now and how far they can stretch.

“We’ll probably do scenario planning on three levels. One is the worst case — you run out of capacity to run cricket and it becomes a recreational sport. The second is the most likely; probably a point between the best-case scenario and the worst. What if the game falls over, it just can’t go on? In assessing that, our biggest source of income is broadcasting. And if it’s going to fall over it’s going to come from there. That will be significantly important when you plan strategically. We list our biggest sources of income and then look at how their own environments have changed. There’s good and bad in it. [Broadcasters] would still like to stimulate high-level competition because that makes for a good product. We hope that will help us. But this has got us all nervous and all planning.”

Without cricket to put on their screens, some of the world’s biggest sport broadcasters would struggle to survive. And without broadcasters, international and much of professional cricket would struggle to survive. Who needs who more? Whatever else this is, or isn’t, undoubtedly it’s a moment of truth for the game.

“It’s funny how the world prioritises itself,” Faul said. “Health is the most important thing; the well-being of your loved ones. I really feel for poor people out there. Sport is the most important thing in our lives and it does feed a lot of mouths, but we’ve got to be honest — the world has got bigger challenges than our industry and our challenges.”

What South Africans can bank on, to some degree, is another instalment of the exciting but expensive Mzansi Super League. “We’re still in the final negotiations, but I can confirm that there will be MSL 2020,” Faul said. “We cannot give too many details other than stating that a third edition of the MSL will take place.”

But the unknown looms larger than everything and anything else. Players’ salaries, for instance, will probably become part of the lottery of cricket’s future. “At this stage we will have enough capacity to see us through the next season,” Faul said. “Where players would lose out is on match fees and winning bonuses. But we’ll have to look at the financial impact post this season — how much money will be available to contract players. We’ve got to crunch the numbers first and experience the total effect of Covid-19. For now, I don’t see anybody getting less money than they’ve been contracted for. In future, there is a likelihood that the players’ allocation would be less.”

Faul is in his position, at least for now, because the previous permanent incumbent, Thabang Moroe, made such a mess of things that even CSA’s shambolic board couldn’t continue to look the other way — not before time, they suspended him in December. Part of the fallout is that Standard Bank, a sponsor for the past 21 years, will walk away at the end of April. In December, Graeme Smith was named acting director of cricket for three months. The reason given for the time limit was that Smith had a prior commitment to commentate on the IPL. Now that the tournament is in doubt his immediate future is also unclear, although he seems set to stay on with CSA.

Faf du Plessis relinquished the captaincy in February, and while Quinton de Kock has succeeded him in the white-ball formats there is no word on who might be in charge for the Test series in the Caribbean in July and August. That’s if the rubber goes ahead.

Part of the madness in Moroe’s method was to abolish the selection panel. After Moroe himself was jettisoned, Linda Zondi, the convenor of the disbanded selection committee, was brought back as an independent selector. Zondi had a successful tenure as convenor when that was a part-time post, and CSA could do worse than appoint him now that the job is to be made fulltime. Similarly, Hilton Moreeng, who has coached the women’s team to the semi-finals of the 2017 World Cup and the 2020 T20 World Cup, has done enough to keep his job. Not so Lawrence Mahatlane, whose under-19 men’s team have lost seven of the 10 one-day games they have played this year, which followed nine consecutive defeats in 2019.

Of all of those in limbo, Smith seems closest to surety. “We’re in final negotiations with Graeme and hope to make an announcement next week,” Faul said, prompting Smith to quip: “Otherwise today is my last day at work.” The jocularity swung back to Faul: “One of the things we’re talking around is that Graeme should shave that beard off before we employ him.” At that, Smith’s smile spread wide the fluff he currently sports on his chin.

The lightness of mood couldn’t last, of course. How did Smith assess his initial tenure, considering the national men’s team have won only seven of their 15 completed games since he came aboard? “Some aspects have been good, in some aspects there’s been a lot of learning. That’s been the most important thing in the past few months — to understand what’s in place, why is it in place, what has been the strategy around some of the decisions that have been made in the past. And then to assess all of that and try to formulate a way forward. There’s been a huge amount going on from a commercial perspective, to contracting, getting our teams performing well across the board, high performance … I feel I’m probably in a good place to look to implement some stuff, maybe debate some strategies going forward. If everything works out in the way we hope it does, I hope — in this uncertain time — that we will be able to put out a team at the [men’s] T20 World Cup [scheduled for Australia in October and November] that will be really successful, and by next summer to have an idea of who our 40, 45 players on the men’s side are to take the Proteas into the future.”

South Africa’s next engagement, if it goes ahead, is six white-ball games in Sri Lanka in June. Currently the players are training individually in a country on lockdown, where gyms have been shut and exercising outdoors is prohibited. But push will come to shove. “We need plus-minus six weeks to have our players fully ready for tours,” Smith said. “Financially, with stuff like holding flights, around that six-week mark is when decisions need to be made.”

The start of June is not quite nine weeks away. So much could change by then. Whether it gets better or worse is, like everything else, uncertain.

First published by Cricbuzz.