/ 14 October 2011

SA cricket’s welcome return to the back pages

Ten-and-a-half years ago South Africa were due to face Australia in an irrelevant three-match series of one-day internationals that had been hastily arranged by the chief executives of the two cricket associations in the aftermath of the heart-stopping tie in the 1999 World Cup semifinal at Edgbaston.

Three days before the first game Hansie Cronje finally came clean and owned up to his relationship and dealings with illegal gamblers and bookmakers in India — and the insular worlds of the majority of his teammates simply fell to pieces.

“The first thought that went through my head was, ‘well, we obviously can’t play the game now’,” said Gary Kirsten. “It just seemed too big for the game to go on; the captain, match-fixing. Suddenly playing an international against Australia seemed very unimportant.”

But Kirsten was forgetting the first and golden rule about crises, scandals and misdemeanours in sport: the game always goes on. The past six months may have been disastrous at boardroom level and the fallout will be felt for many years to come, but for the players and fans it is finally time to forget about their bosses’ pilfering the travelling expenses and paying themselves undeclared bonuses – it’s time to start putting bat to ball and distracting our attention away from the boardroom and back to the field. Thankfully.

Dale Steyn may have been rested for the first T20 at Newlands on Thursday and will be for the second at the Wanderers on Sunday, but he is no less grateful than those playing that cricket have a chance to reclaim the back pages rather than the front.

“I don’t really know or understand all the stuff that has been going on but it’s been disappointing. I spent a month in America during the winter and even saw some of the scandal reported in newspapers over there. It has to be sorted out,” Steyn said.

The fact that both Newlands and the Wanderers were sold out a week before the game gives Cricket South Africa ample reason to declare that all is well in their fiefdom and no harm has been done. Their practised self-delusion will surely continue.

In the past 18 months three of the most radically poor administrative decisions in the history of South African cricket have been made and they will all affect the long-term health and future of the game.

First, South Africa downgraded itself from lead role to “support cast” in the Australian summer. So no more Boxing Day Tests at the MCG and New Year Tests in Sydney, two of the greatest spectacles and occasions the sport has to offer. Instead, the Proteas will play either early or late season in places such as Hobart and Brisbane. No more prime time. No more generations of South African cricketers playing in front of 80 000 in Melbourne (“the most awesome experience you will ever have”, according to Steyn).

Second, CSA agreed to cutting a Test match off this tour to accommodate the recently concluded Champions League in India. So, only two Tests between these fierce, traditional rivalries, both of which have such a rich history of competition. It’s not even a “series”. It’s just two Tests.

Finally, and most recently, CSA’s hierarchy agreed to downgrade next winter’s tour to England from five Tests to three. As far as rankings are concerned, potentially a No. 1 against No. 2 in the world.

These things are theoretically changeable in the future, but the power of the precedent set will be hard to reverse.

This news was “offset” by the announcement of a TV rights deal with Taj TV (in Asia) and Willow TV (in America, Canada and Mexico), purportedly worth $1.5-billion over eight years. Yes, billion.

And yes, Mexico. Anyone smell another rat?

The real point is that playing Test cricket remains the ultimate ambition of young players and the longer the financial rewards and opportunities for playing it continue to be diminished and dwarfed by the dwarf format of the game, the fewer decent cricketers we’ll have. And the fewer the number of people who will want to watch. Even in Mexico.