Neil Manthorp Cricket
Boardroom back-stabbings and committee politics are as much a part of sport as scrotal rash and bad feet, so while the country’s “thinking sports fan” ponders whether Hansie Cronje’s team is distracted by the forced resignation of United Cricket Board (UCB) president Ray White, Cronje’s men are “just playing cricket”.
Wednesday’s remarkable one-run victory was all the proof one could have that the team, for the moment, remains focused. Sunday’s humiliating drubbing, though, was so comprehensive as to suggest the team must have had something else on their minds. Not so, says Cronje.
“To be honest, I’m not really sure what happened, or is happening, in the boardroom. All I know is that Ray White stepped down. But that isn’t our business.” Not yet, anyway.
Coach Graham Ford admits that White’s resignation and the other politicking within the UCB hasn’t gone unnoticed among the players but “they are focused on the job. They follow bits and pieces of what is going on but it hasn’t been a distraction and it isn’t an excuse for the Bloemfontein defeat,” he says with conviction.
The Bloemfontein performance happened to be the worst seen by a South African one-day side for six years so it was obvious that the discerning critic would look for reasons. Cronje’s “bad day at the office” analogy, which he used during the Kingsmead Test match after South Africa followed on, seemed inadequate at the time.
But that, apparently, is all it was. “At least, I hope that’s all it was,” says Ford. “It’s difficult to put your finger on the reasons for a defeat like that. You could say our mindset and game plan were too ambitious but then again, we had two bad decisions in the first four wickets so things might have worked out very differently.
“It happened to us in Kenya [in September when India bowled South Africa out for 117 and won by eight wickets in 22 overs] and the result was that everyone worked much harder and concentrated much more. It’s not nice losing like that and the players feel it more than anyone,” Ford said, pre-empting Wednesday’s win.
Team manager Goolam Raja, meanwhile, became almost breathless in his haste to deny that the team were in any way affected by the “night of the long knives” which ended White’s presidency.
“The team spirit is excellent. What happens in the boardroom stays in the boardroom, our job is on the field. It was just a bad day at the office. We didn’t bat well. And besides, you have to give credit to the England bowlers: they varied their pace and used the conditions cleverly.”
Perfect statements from all three men. Exactly what they should say. And, to be totally fair, pretty much exactly what they believe. At this stage.
Of course, no one would expect Cronje, Ford or Raja to say: “Well, when the president of the board gets forced out of office, the managing director is under fire and no one knows what’s on the selection convenor’s agenda, you half expect to be out of work yourself when the next squad is announced.”
No, they wouldn’t say that. Definitely not.
“Players tend to keep their heads down when there are bullets flying around,” says Pat Symcox. “Hansie’s leadership is strong enough to make sure they remember that their business is on the field. Besides, the game’s administrators know that the team is what keeps them all in business and they are more likely to offer more encouragement in troubled times rather than less.”
There is one concern that everyone shares, but not everyone can admit. Symcox speaks his mind: “Administrators will have their disagreements, and the transformation that we need is not going to be an easy process. As long as the problems don’t spread to the selectors then the team will be fine. If they do, then …”
Enough said. It is a train of thought too murky to contemplate.