World Cup squad reveals the rot of mistranformation

World Cup squad reveals the rot of mistranformation

IT WAS back in 2009. That’s when I penned my concern that the Proteas would be heading to the ICC T20 World Cup in England without any black African representation.

Fifteen years later, I find myself in the same situation. The Proteas are gearing up for another T20 World Cup in the West Indies and USA with Kagiso Rabada being the sole African representative.

How? You may ask, has there been virtually no progress made in 15 years?

How is it that despite every provincial union, of which there are 16 across Division 1 and 2, stipulated to play a minimum of three Black Africans in their starting XI’s every game – that’s a minimum of 48 players each round – that South African cricket still finds itself in this precarious position?

I certainly feel that the current domestic transformation policy needs an urgent review because it’s not geared towards high performance and excellence.

I belief that the primary priority is instead job preservation.

The movement of black African players between provinces at the end of each season has become a feature of the domestic game.

While that is not necessarily a negative, players are assured of “the next gig”, regardless of whether their performance merits it and purely due to the stipulated transformation rules.

Even the high-performing black African players regularly trade unions as they are now rare commodities and are therefore able to demand a higher fee elsewhere.

Again, you may argue that this is how a capitalist society operates where service meets demand, but often it has resulted in players taking a backward step in their careers for the “reward” of an extra R100 000 annually.

A notable exception is Western Province’s left-handed batter Tony de Zorzi, who at the time of his move from Pretoria to the Cape openly stated that It was due to his desire to develop his game under the former Proteas’ left-hander Ashwell Prince.

De Zorzi has since gone on to break numerous records at Newlands, which includes becoming the first player ever to score a triple century at Newlands, before graduating to the Proteas ranks in both Test and ODI cricket.

But having closely inspected the performances of black African players for some time, I must admit that I was not surprised when Rabada was Proteas white-ball coach Rob Walter’s sole African selection in his 15-man T20 World Cup squad.

The regular candidates such as Temba Bavuma, Lungi Ngidi and Andile Phehlukwayo have not consistently produced the sort of performances that warrant selection.

However, my greater concern is that the depth below this core group is extremely shallow.

And for me, the writing has been on the wall for the past couple of years with the advent of SA20 illustrating the chasm between mediocrity and merit-based selections.

Unlike Cricket SA’s other domestic competitions, the SA20 does not have any transformation regulations in place.

The alarm bells should have rang loudly at CSA’s plush offices in Illovo when only Rabada, Ngidi, Sisanda Magala, Junior Dala, Aya Gqamane and Malusi Siboto – all seam bowlers – were signed up at the inaugural auction across the six franchise teams.

Although all-rounder Andile Phehlukwayo and left-arm spinner Aaron Phangiso were drafted later as Wildcards before Bavuma, the Proteas T20 captain at the time who was added as a replacement, the lack of faith in Black African players from an independent selection panel was clearly evident.

A door was opened in Season Two due to the implementation of the Rookie system with Andile Simelane and Nqaba Peter joining Sunrisers Eastern Cape and Paarl Royals respectively, while De Zorzi also joined Durban’s Super Giants, but the veil had been lifted and there was no longer any place for Cricket SA to hide.

While admirable in its intentions, the transformation systems in place in domestic cricket have not met its required targets and are now in urgent need of review.

If this is not addressed, I feel that I may be sitting here after another 15 years lamenting the very same issues. And by then it may be far too late to turn it around.