There is no justification for Cricket South Africa to send a national team to a World Cup with just one black African player. It is morally reprehensible and those behind this ludicrous decision should be fired.
Gasant Abarder explains that because of this disgraceful conduct, he is betting against the Proteas at the T20 World Cup.
I haven’t paid any attention to cricket for a while. Not since the farce that was the Social Justice and Nation-Building hearings aimed to address transformation issues within South African cricket that had no consequences for racists that still benefit from the game.
But I admit to doing a double take when I saw the squad selected for the upcoming T20 World Cup. For a minute, I thought it was 1991 again when Dr Ali Bacher and Co sent a team to India to play the hosts as a signal of our re-admission to international cricket – an all-white team!
Cricket South Africa (CSA) is a disgrace. They get bullied by the real bosses of cricket, who are England, India and Australia, and are happy to settle for the scraps. Imagine that we’re a Test-playing nation with aspirations to be the best in the world but we’re playing the sum total of two Test matches this year!
Just when you thought they couldn’t be any worse, CSA has plummeted to a new low because in 2024 they want us to believe there is only one black African cricketer good enough to make a 15-player touring squad to the T20 World Cup. Kagiso Rabada is one of the world’s finest cricketers. His name can comfortably be mentioned in the same breath as fast bowlers like Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, Curtly Ambrose et al. His name should be the first on the touring squad list and he can walk into any of world cricket’s Test-playing sides.
I refuse to believe there aren’t any other black African cricketers that could make this squad (Lungi Ngidi is a reserve). The rest of the 15-man squad has a sprinkling of so-called players of colour.
Let’s look at the problems and they run deep. Firstly, and perhaps most importantly, cricket remains an elitist sport in this country. There is more of a premium placed on a kid who played first team at Bishops, Rondebosch Boys’, Grey College or those with the big cricket traditions. Most of the black African cricketers who make it to the big time come through this system of elite schools.
I’m not wrong. When last did you hear of a cricketer who made it into the Proteas squad from the club system at talented established pockets of excellence like Hanover Park Cricket Club, Primroses or Langa Cricket Club?
I know what the detractors are going to say. Let’s examine the first statement that is coming my way: There is no place for politics in sports. Well, apart from it being unconscionable to send one black African player from South Africa to the World Cup when 90% of our population is black African, it appears there is a place for politics in sports after all. World sport bodies were quick to ban Russia and the Ukraine flags were out in full force. We’re waiting patiently for those world sporting bodies to ban Israel for its genocide against Palestine.
Then there is that other old chestnut: ‘But look at the all-black Bafana!’ This is nonsense because Bafana is the most representative sports team in the country and they’re doing great right now.
Cricket South Africa has a lot to answer for. Provincial franchises are close to bankruptcy; they can’t put bums on seats for international matches and their leadership right at the top is quite simply rotten.
None of us – not least the players – want quotas in sport, but don’t come crying when the government intervenes.
I may just watch the T20 World Cup and you can bet on it – if I do choose to watch this snore fest – that it will be to watch the Proteas choke! They have already lost on moral grounds even before facing a single ball or bowling the first delivery at the tournament.
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