Proteas coach Mickey Arthur has laid a counter-charge of ”disrespectful and abusive behaviour” against Cricket South Africa (CSA) chairperson Norman Arendse.
Arendse confirmed on Thursday that he had laid a charge against Arthur for ”disrespectful and abusive behaviour and for not complying with CSA’s policy of transformation”.
”This has reached ridiculous proportions,” said Arthur.
”I’ve laid a counter-charge against him because he was just as abusive to me as I was to him.
”I have no problem with transformation and I am very willing to work for transformation,” he continued.
”However, seven players of colour in a squad of 14 is a target and not a policy.”
The clash between Arendse and Arthur is reported to have taken place during a conference call between Arendse and the national selection committee, when Arendse questioned the make-up of the squad selected to travel to Bangladesh next Wednesday for two Tests and three one-day internationals.
The squad was to have been announced on Monday or Tuesday, but had still not been made known.
”We have sent the same squad to him [Arendse] for approval,” said Arthur. ”The ball is now in his court.”
Arendse was reportedly particularly annoyed that batsman Herschelle Gibbs and bowler Monde Zondeki were not included in the squad, but he had denied naming them.
CSA chief executive Gerald Majola said he had not yet received any complaint from Arendse.
”But I am out of the office today [Thursday] — I’m in Umtata. I’ll be back in the office tomorrow and then maybe I will find out more about it,” he said.
”I am very sad that this has happened. We had such a wonderful few weeks, with a great send-off for Shaun Pollock, and cricket was on a high and now we are getting publicity for all the wrong reasons.”
The President of the South African Cricketers’ Association, Tony Irish, said it was important that the matter be settled as quickly as possible.
”The players are not involved in selection, nor should they be,” said Irish.
”However, they believe strongly in the need for integrity in the process. In a team sport such as cricket, selection is probably the most important factor.
”The team has yet to be finalised so it is not for us to comment further at this stage. For the sake of the integrity of the process, however, this issue needs to be finalised quickly,” he said. — Sapa