These have been trying times for KwaZulu-Natal cricket. Even before the World Cup had come to an end, Shaun Pollock had been sacked as South African captain to be replaced by, of all things, an upstart young Capetonian; Lance Klusener was dropped from the national team, while provincial captain Dale Benkenstein has again been overlooked.
If all this was not enough, provincial coach Eldine Baptiste recently found himself banged up at Gatwick airport, bizarrely suspected of trying to smuggle cocaine into Britain in his golf balls. He was quickly released, but not before his feathers and his temper had been seriously ruffled.
In normal circumstances, all of the above might be put down simply to a run of rotten luck. But there is greater cause for concern at Kingsmead ahead of the KwaZulu-Natal Cricket Union’s (KZNCU)
annual meeting on Friday night.
Natal cricket has not been a happy ship administratively in recent months, despite the successful staging of a number of World Cup matches,
including one of the semifinals.
At the heart of the discontent is KZNCU president Logan Naidoo, whose autocratic and abrasive style of leadership has finally thrown up a challenger to his position in the shape of Sathie Govender, the KZNCU treasurer and Durban and District Cricket Union president.
What makes this particular challenge interesting is that both Naidoo and Govender are, or at least were, members of a shadowy pressure group, the Non-Aligned Movement in Cricket (Namic), whose ostensible aims have to do with furthering transformation. Namic played a part in Naidoo’s election but at least some of its members now appear to have turned against Naidoo.
The announcement of Govender’s presidential bid was accompanied by charges of irregularities in the running of Natal cricket and a call for a commission of inquiry. A commission has been apppointed, but its findings will come too late to affect Friday’s election.
Naidoo’s first response to suggestions of unhappiness in his leadership was to dismiss airily any such
allegations as fanciful. Subequently, as more concrete evidence of opposition emerged, his behaviour took an odd turn. He burst into tears at one KZNCU meeting, insisting on a vote of confidence in himself.
The smart money is on Govender to win if, as seems to be the case, he has the backing of the province’s two biggest sub-unions, Durban and Maritzburg. Whoever wins, it might be a while yet before peace finally breaks out at Kingsmead.