South Africa’s professional domestic cricket teams may soon have to field a minimum of two black African cricket players in their starting 11s.
This is one of a number of proposals which the Cricket South Africa (CSA) board will meet to decide on next Friday.
Another proposal is for three black African players in every semi-professional provincial team, one level down. It was a decade ago when a “transformation indaba” was held and one of the key results was a “target” of four “players of colour” in every one of SA’s six domestic franchise teams.
Resolutions adopted next week could be applicable immediately, including impacts on the summer season, which starts next Friday with the Momentum 1 Day Cup.
CSA’s lead independent director Norman Arendse said steps around black African players were “long overdue”.
At a transformation indaba last month in Joburg a number of fresh resolutions were adopted. These have not been made public, but a source confirmed today that one resolution proposes at least two black African cricket players in every starting line-up.
It is not clear whether the existing “target” of four players of colour would remain, simultaneously. Instead, the source explained that the board would have the right to tailor any new policy itself, and would not be explicitly bound by any particular resolution.
Since the “targets” were introduced, the majority of the six franchise teams have had no difficulty in fielding the minimum of four “players of colour”. But it was widely acknowledged that there remains a dire lack of black African cricketers at franchise level.
Norman Arendse, long an outspoken proponent of rapid transformation in the game, told the Cape Argus that “(Convener of selectors) Andrew Hudson understandably – and quite rightly – says ‘we get criticised for not picking enough black players, but who do we have?’,” Arendse said there were indeed only “a handful” of black African players to choose from.
“So it’s a no-brainer that you have to increase the pool of black African players and they must play at the highest levels of domestic cricket.
“We’ve had a quota of a minimum of four players of colour playing in our franchise teams, and I would think it has produced the results, because if there’s one section of cricket which has really taken off it is the coloured community.
“So the next step which has come out of the indaba, and which the board will decide next week, is whether to introduce a strategy for black African players. In real terms it will be more than just two black African players in your franchise squad, because you will need four or six, so that they can compete for places, so that no-one is in the team ‘by right’ – which can be a criticism of the quota system. It is right that everyone must compete for their place,” Arendse said. - Cape Argus