Cricket SA maintains stance on racial targets

Cricket SA can’t say when racial targets for domestic teams will end, or whether it will change the transformation policy. 

The Eastern Province Warriors were sanctioned last weekend for failing to adhere to Cricket SA’s transformation policy regarding the number of black African players that must be selected in the starting teams in domestic competitions.

The policy has been in place for 10 years.

“The monitoring and evaluations of the improvements in the system year to year will guide the cricket ecosystem in arriving at such a decision,” said Cricket SA’s executive responsible for the domestic game, Eddie Khoza. “We can’t put a time frame to the objective.”

The policy, breached by the Warriors in their February 16 One-Day Cup clash with the Dolphins, stipulates teams should comprise six generic black players, three of whom must be black African. Eastern Province cricket was docked the points gained for winning the match and fined R500,000, half of which was suspended for five years. 

The sanction meant they lost the chance to play in the knockout of the One-Day Cup.

The stipulation, contained in Cricket SA’s administrative conditions, was mandated in 2013 after a transformation indaba. At the time the quotas were five generic black players, two of whom had to be black African. The figures were increased to the current stipulation two years later.

Though Khoza said the system was monitored annually, though there hasn’t been an assessment of the numbers for seven years. Provincial targets differ from the Proteas’ targets in terms of assessment. For provincial teams it is done match by match, while the Proteas’ targets are measured over the course of a season.

“Management offered this alternative to the head coaches in 2018 and it was rejected at the time,” Khoza said.

The domestic system and the coaches involved have changed considerably in that period. In 2018 local cricket still had the six-team franchise system in place. The system now comprises 15 provincial unions, split into two divisions. 

Of the six head coaches of franchises in 2018, three are still working in the system — Enoch Nkwe (Lions) is Cricket SA’s director of national teams, Malibongwe Maketa (Warriors) is the SA U-19 men’s coach and Ashwell Prince (Cape Cobras) is the Proteas Test side’s batting coach. 

The necessity of targets will form part of the broader review a task team appointed by Cricket SA is undertaking of the domestic structure. At its core is the need for sustainability of the sport, though transformation and how it is being managed is also being scrutinised. 

Khoza believes despite the Warriors affair, transformation targets are being faithfully adhered to by provincial unions. “The objective of these targets, as its core purpose, is to increase the pool of black players, particularly black African players.

“Without an overall improved quality of opportunity and player development, mere compliance alone would not assist the ecosystem; hence we have monitored and evaluated the system in this regard,” he said.