The comments made by the president explained why the union took the decision to postpone the afternoon semi-finals of the Eastern Cricket Premier T20 Competition scheduled for Sunday, October 15.
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Corin said the winner of this Cricket South Africa (CSA) sanctioned event will represent the union at the Community Cup tournament later this year and “as such, all teams playing in the Community Cup have to meet CSA’s transformation targets.”
“These targets comprise a minimum of two players of colour – one of whom must be black African.”
The president added that BNCC was one of the teams that did not comply with transformation targets.
He also expressed his “disappointment at the reluctance of some clubs to comply while others have found it possible.”
Dylan Coates, chairman of BNCC, said in a statement that the club is definitely not reluctant to transform.
He said: “BNCC hereby wishes to exercise its right of reply and expressly distances itself from the statement made by ECU president, Gary Corin regarding the reluctance of clubs to comply with transformation.
“The matter has formally been addressed with the ECU.
“BNCC is fully committed to transformation in cricket both on and off the field.
“We believe true transformation is not merely a matter of quotas, but needs to target development at all levels of club cricket.
“Based on this, and after many hours of hard work, we have managed to implement our own transformation policy which focuses on youth development as well as providing employment opportunities for the development of the sport.
“We recently launched our own BNCC Academy which employs three coaches of colour and over the years have created paid coaching opportunities for these coaches of colour within our junior teams.
“We will continue to encourage players of colour to join what we believe is the best club in Easterns with the best facilities, best structures and most importantly, the best members.
“Our transformation policy extends to women’s cricket as well and we are extremely proud to boast a most competitive women’s side over the past three seasons.
“Transformation cannot be achieved by the clubs alone and we look forward to working with the ECU to find workable solutions for the benefit of the entire cricketing community.”
Meanwhile, on the afternoon of October 24, a play-off T20 final between the compliant Kempton Park and Alberton took place on the Willowmoore Park main oval.
Corin explained why this decision was taken: “Eastern Cricket resolved that the two compliant teams play against each other to determine which compliant T20 Premier League side will represent our union at the CSA Community Cup.
“Kempton Park and Alberton agreed that October 24 suited both teams for this fixture.
“Kempton Park won the match.
“In terms of the original tournament, the semi-finals will go ahead as originally planned.
“Kempton Park will play against Benoni Northerns and United will play against Alberton.
“These semi-finals will be played under the new lights at Willowmoore Park.
“The lights are still being erected and all parties will be informed once a suitable time can be arranged.
“It will definitely be before completion of the first half of the 2017/2018 fixtures.
“The final will then follow afterwards.
“In terms of transformation targets, it is understood by all clubs in ECU that the CSA guidelines are not negotiable.
“All Premier League clubs will comply in all formats if they hold any ambition of representing the ECU at CSA sanctioned tournaments.
“The director of club cricket [Lewellyn van Dyk] facilitated a workshop with clubs and there are various mechanisms being put in place to assist clubs in meeting these transformation targets.
“This will include Premier League clubs ‘adopting’ non-premier league emerging clubs with the view to developing young talent.
“A three week ‘grace-period’ has also been agreed to.
“Thereafter, transformation targets will need to be met.
“The ECU board and president commend all parties for their commitment to finding sustainable solutions.”
CLICK HERE for Cricket South Africa’s Transformation Plan.
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