With perhaps the most controversial season since unification finally over – on the field at least – it’s time for some awards. Some shameful, a couple serious, mostly fun, the summer of 2011/12 is one many in this country would like to forget. Here is the first of a two-part series...
Best Quote Award:“There is nothing that has been suggested that Cricket SA will not comply or outrightly reject the recommendations by Judge Nicholson and therefore it would be premature to respond to insurrectionary phrase mongering by certain individuals about how they feel about the outcome.” – Sports Minister Fikile Mbalula. Insurrectionary phrase mongering – go on, use it at your next board meeting.
Tears for Fears Award: The emotional battering finally took its toll on embattled CSA chief executive Gerald Majola when he appeared before the Nicholson inquiry. Yes, he erred, but no, he didn’t understand the complexities of the Companies Act. A reading of Nicholson’s final statement finds that the judge didn’t buy that argument. Majola has to face an independent disciplinary inquiry, his name – regardless of its findings – tarnished forever.
I’m Handing it Over Award: Ray Mali. Time for some new blood, said Mali after “stepping down” from CSA’s board last Friday. Really? It’s only taken him 10 years to figure that out. Mali likes to say he served because CSA asked him to serve. What he won’t admit is that he could’ve said “no” ages ago and allowed that “young blood” to map a new path for CSA. But, hey, when you’re getting R1,3-million, walking away is hard to do.
Start Me Up Award: The Super-Sopper in Bloemfontein. If you were in Bloemfontein on the night of the third ODI between SA and Sri Lanka, the sight of 20 blokes trying to get the sopper started was one to behold. One chap literally jumped up and down on top of the engine hoping to get the thing started. “ Daai ding het tien jaar laas gewerk(That thing last worked ten years ago),” one local hack chimed in.
Best match Award: The Newlands Test was memorable, as indeed was the Wanderers one which followed it. (Why, oh why, CSA did you not have a third?) Domestically, you’d have to go a long way to find a better 20-over game than the play-off match between the Titans and the Knights at Centurion two weeks ago. It had everything, including two of the last three balls of the match being smashed for sixes to force a tie, before the Titans grabbed the win in a super-over. Alfonso Thomas will dine out on it for years to come.