One on one with Benoni’s Mr Cricket

Lakefield resident Cassim Suliman, current CEO of the Africa Cricket Association (ACA), is known as ‘Mr Cricket’ but many people don’t know why.
Although he was born in Johannesburg, Suliman schooled at the Orient Islamic School in Durban.
It was here where he got his first taste of cricket.
“The school cricket team was playing a match but they were a player or two short for the game. I had no idea how to play cricket at the time but they needed the help so I obliged.
“I was dropping quite a few catches and really felt lost until it was my turn to bat – I went mad; hitting the ball and scoring 42 runs for the team! From then on, I knew cricket was my sport,” Suliman said.
After school, he became heavily involved in cricket administration.
In June 1991, the South African Cricket Union and the South African Cricket Board merged to form the United Cricket Board of South Africa (UCB).
The unification ended enforced racial separation in sport.
At the time, Suliman was one of the delegates of unification for the SA Cricket Board, before moving on to chairperson of the Actonville Spurs Cricket Club.
“Cricket was the first sport to unite as one, as well as the first sport to start playing internationally.
“The first game was South Africa versus India, and at the time South Africa was being captained by the late Clive Rice when they played three one-day internationals in India,” he explained.
The joint executive consisted of members of the Easterns and North East cricket boards.
The late Kevin Loring became the first president of the two unions, which merged into one, and Suliman became the first public relations officer for the Eastern Transvaal Cricket Association in 1991/92.
“The president of the Northerns Cricket Union, in Centurion (Titans) contributed R150 000 at the time to kickstart the union, which was well appreciated,” he said.
Suliman then went from public relations officer to convener of selectors of the Eastern Transvaal Cricket Association in 1993/94.
This is where he would select and pick the provincial team.
“Easterns won the Bowl Cup that year and at the time the team was captained by André Nel,” he said.
The Easterns Cricket Union was first based at Pam Brink Stadium, in Springs, from 1991 to 1995 before relocating to Willowmoore Park Stadium in Benoni in 1995.
Suliman then took on the position of president/chairperson of the Easterns Cricket Union, as well as being a member of the board for Cricket South Africa.
While in these positions he appointed Raymond Jennings as the head coach for Easterns and brought in quite a few now well-known players such as Geoffrey Toyana, André Nel, Albie Morkel, Morne Morkel, Andrew Hall and Zander de Bruyn.
“The highlight of this time was when Easterns took on Western Province and beat them by 277 runs, becoming the SuperSport champions.
“Well-known players, such as Herschelle Gibbs and Graeme Smith, were playing for Province and yet we still beat them. It was like David versus Goliath – nothing like this had happened before,” he explained.
During his time as president, Suliman merged Easterns and Northerns to form the franchise the Titans.
“Many players from Easterns also played for the Titans. The president of Northerns at the time was Brandon Foot and we worked hard together for the unification of cricket.
“We brought communities together and genuinely felt like cricket broke the racial tension within South Africa and this is what we see today,” he added.
Suliman then became the general manager of Easterns cricket in 2009.
Within his first year he secured R7-million in sponsorships and also began linking up corporate companies to sponsor Easterns.
“I believe that corporate companies need to commit social responsibilities to disadvantaged communities,” he explained.
In 2012, Suliman was appointed CEO of Easterns.
During this time his responsibilities were franchise cricket, provincial cricket, all ICC/ACA World Cup qualifiers and restructuring staff and stadiums.
He also appointed Raymond Jennings as head coach for Easterns.
“I also made sure that all service and delivery was afforded to all cricketing sectors within the cricket fraternity under our jurisdiction,” he added
“I then resigned and went on to be the CEO of ACA.”
Being the CEO of ACA means that Suliman is in charge of 33 African countries that are involved in cricket development of which 19 are affiliated to the International Cricket Council.
“ACA conducts cricket education and courses, umpire scores, tournaments and events throughout Africa, it assists the South African government to carry out African Renaissance throughout Africa and at the same time education is rendered with regards to HIV/Aids, as well as hunger and starvation,” Suleman explained.
While Suliman was president of Easterns, Brandon Foot, Robby Kurtz and Suliman were commissioned by Cricket SA to formulate and construct the franchise system which is presently being played.
“I feel it is a great legacy we have left for South African cricket. I want to support all African countries and I can do that working for ACA.
“We promote the game of cricket now and for generations to come. ACA would rather see a cricket bat in a child’s hand than an AK-47 for fighting in wars,” he concluded.