CSA response to four-day Tests speculation shows it’s still disjointed

Cricket South Africa’s statement released on Tuesday morning supporting the concept of four-day Tests is not the final word on the subject and there would need to be further consultation with key stakeholders, acting chief executive Jacques Faul told The Citizen on Tuesday.

The International Cricket Council’s Cricket Committee are set to discuss calls for mandatory four-day Tests from 2023 onwards, with the Australian and English boards pushing the idea in order to ostensibly free up more space in the playing calendar.

But seemingly in response to an article published overnight by England’s Daily Mail, claiming, without any attribution, that CSA would oppose the move, the local governing body issued a statement on Tuesday morning saying: “it is Cricket South Africa’s official policy to support four-day Test match cricket. We, in fact, hosted the first official four-day Test match between ourselves and Zimbabwe a couple of years ago”.

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Faul said the statement should be seen in the historical context of South Africa hosting a four-day Test against Zimbabwe in 2017/18, but he said their position would need to be re-evaluated after discussions with the Proteas team and management.

The interim CEO has been trying to butter up the players after a disastrous couple of years in terms of their relationship with CSA, especially with former CEO Thabang Moroe.

“Supporting four-day Tests has been our historic position since we tried it against Zimbabwe, but I’m not aware of any recent discussions about it, certainly not between me and Graeme Smith [acting director of cricket]. Against Zimbabwe it probably made sense at the time, but there needs to be a re-look and the involvement of other stakeholders like the players and coaches,” Faul told The Citizen on Tuesday.

The fact that CSA could not wait until the end of the much-anticipated fifth day of the second Test against England at Newlands before issuing a, frankly, unnecessary response to pure speculation, has once again suggested the organisation is still in some disarray.

Their statement also does not clarify whether they are supporting four-day Tests being mandatory or voluntary.

South African Cricketers’ Association (Saca) chief executive Andrew Breetzke on Tuesday expressed his bemusement to media that the players’ union had once again not been consulted before CSA made their policy statement.

Saca have already said they will not be withdrawing their court action against CSA and their proposed domestic restructuring until they withdraw their decision to go to 12 teams and properly consult with the players.

It is worth noting that the second Test comfortably went into the fifth day even though there were no weather delays and the first two innings were both relatively brief and low-scoring.

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