Re-examine CSA approach to transformation

The saying that chocolate counts as a salad because it comes from cocoa, which is basically a plant because it comes from a tree, always raises a wry smile.

But it is the same sort of circuitous logic that seems to apply when it comes to targets and quotas in South African cricket.

I must state at the outset that I am fully in favour of efforts to transform cricket, to make it more accurately reflect the demographics of the country.

This is essential if the game is to thrive in South Africa and not become a game for the elite or for minorities.

Simply put, South African cricket has to have a darker face, lily-white teams cannot be accepted.

Most reasonable people would probably agree on this end goal, but the biggest point of contention is how do we get there?

Quotas and targets are a veryblunt tool and they also cause some ludicrous outcomes which are similar to chocolate being served as a salad.

In the last week we’ve had Farhaan Behardien, who has been considered a player of colour for the last 15 years, suddenly “reclassified” as White simply because he has decided to end his stalwart career with a Kolpak deal with Durham.

His Titans team-mate Tony de Zorzi and Dolphins paceman Kerwin Mungroo are both counted as Black African thanks to one of
their parents.

Imran Tahir has always counted as a player of colour even though, coming from Pakistan, he was never disadvantaged by Apartheid.

In the terrible old days, the scumbags behind Apartheid used to use inhumane means like the “Pencil Test” to make these sort of decisions.

But perhaps the time is near when Cricket South Africa’s entire approach to transformation is re-examined and I hope it is the Black African players, who were most affected by the shameful social engineering of the past and by the current attempts to redress the imbalances, who will be at the forefront of the debate.

I can think of no-one better than the president of the South African Cricketers’ Association, Omphile Ramela, to spearhead these discussions.

I don’t believe this is a topic white people should be particularly involved in, but if my opinion was asked I would say I don’t have the answer, or maybe a look at rugby would be helpful.

Rugby has not had the strict enforcement of quotas like cricket has had and yet you could pick a Springbok team tomorrow with 11 Black Africans in it and they would all be worthy of a spot in the world champions’ starting XV – Fassi, Nkosi, Am, Mapimpi, Nohamba, Notshe, Kolisi, Mohoje, Nyakane, Mbonambi and Gqoboka.

Rugby has traditionally lagged behind cricket in terms of transformation and now they are clearly ahead.

And maybe it’s because they have allowed their black talent to come through in a more organic, natural fashion?

I know most cricket administrators will choke on their coffee (or more likely Johnny Walker Blue) if one suggests doing away with quotas.

But since 2015/16 when the “targets” were increased to six players of colour in every XI, including three Black Africans, one of which should be a batsman, performances of Black African players in franchise cricket have actually regressed.

And not just in terms of batsmen, Black African bowlers are also now averaging more (38.19 compared to 30.77) than they
did prior to 2015/16, according to data published by cricket analyst Shaun Rheeder on his @LocalCricketZA twitter account.

Batting averages have also not improved, although their decline is less marked, going from 26.59 to 26.32.

But the point is that creating more opportunities in franchise teams for Black African players has not led to better cricketers, hence less Proteas.

Opportunities are one thing but young players also need space and time to develop; young white batsmen get the chance to hone their games through the levels, but it seems their Black African colleagues are too often thrown straight into the deep end because of the pressure to get them into teams.

Isn’t that just a different form of disadvantage again?

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