Cricket South Africa (CSA) on Monday announced the team that Proteas coach Mickey Arthur and the national selectors wanted, but the dispute in South African cricket is far from over.
The team announced after a week’s delay resulting from the bitter row between Arthur and CSA president Norman Arendse was the one that Arendse had twice vetoed on the grounds that it did not comply with CSA’s transformation policy.
The transformation policy calls for seven players of colour in a squad of 15. However, the 14-man squad chosen had only four players of colour.
Arendse told said on Monday evening that he had once again vetoed the team, and had put forward his own selection, which included Herschelle Gibbs and Charl Langeveldt, both players of colour, instead of Neil McKenzie and Andre Nel.
”But the CEO [Gerald Majola] has effectively overridden my veto, and I suppose the team that was announced today is the one that will go to Bangladesh,” said Arendse. ”I don’t have the financial resources to send another team, and I can’t stop players from getting on the plane on Wednesday.”
After a conference call last Tuesday to discuss the team, Arendse accused Arthur of being ”disrespectful and abusive” and laid a charge with the CSA to this effect. He also accused Arthur of not complying with the transformation policy.
Arthur laid a counter-claim, saying Arendse had been abusive.
The CSA general council met via a conference call on Saturday, and reaffirmed its commitment to transformation. It also axed Arthur as a member of the selection committee.
However, that decision was overruled when CEO Gerald Majola pointed out that selection duties were part of Arthur’s contract, and that he could not be axed.
The general council also called on Majola to handle Arendse’s complaint against Arthur through human resources and the CSA legal department as a matter of urgency, and to resolve it before the team left for Bangladesh.
”That decision by the general council still stands,” said Arendse. ”We have also instructed the chief executive to investigate remarks made by CSA employees to determine whether they had brought cricket into disrepute.” — Sapa
Proteas squad: Graeme Smith (captain), Ashwell Prince ( vice-captain), Hashim Amla, Johan Botha, Mark Boucher, AB de Villiers, JP Duminy, Paul Harris, Jacques Kallis, Neil McKenzie, Morne Morkel, Andre Nel, Makhaya Ntini, Dale Steyn