Cricket can’t go back to the future

In South Africa, an already groggy game faces the distinct possibility of going down for the count for good.

TELFORD VICE | Cape Town

NOT for the first time in one of the most disunited societies on earth, South Africans are not speaking with the same voice. Some are adamant that almost nine weeks of lockdown have not been enough — or stringent enough — to slow the spread of the coronavirus. Others are outraged the country hasn’t taken more steps towards normality. Sadly, as with everything here, the issue has become politicised.

Supporters of the ruling African National Congress (ANC) are broadly in favour of the measures taken. The opposition, notably the Democratic Alliance (DA), want the rules relaxed. The ANC speaks largely for the majority black population. The DA is the standard-bearer for the white minority. Blacks and whites have taken to social media to attack each other in tirades fuelled by ignorance, unfairness and abuse.

Like every industry, cricket is caught in the middle of all that. Unlike almost every other industry, millions of South Africans think they own shares in the company. Heaped on top of everything else the game faces — an apparently bottomless pit of financial woe, a mounting governance crisis, a struggling men’s team, the public’s dwindling confidence in cricket’s chances of pulling itself out of its nosedive on and off the field — little wonder the mood is gloomy. “We have an existential crisis,” Andrew Breetzke, the chief executive of the South African Cricketers’ Association (SACA), said during on online press conference on Thursday. “The future of cricket is at stake. We’ve all got to work to make sure the game survives, and then prospers.”

What would South Africa’s priority be, and why?

To make some money, fast. Even before the virus changed everything we knew about the world, Cricket South Africa (CSA) were forecast to lose up to USD55.9-million by the end of the 2022 rights cycle. Now no-one can put a number on how much they won’t have in the bank in the next few years.

When could it possibly happen?

India are being courted ardently to come and play three T20Is near the end of August, which would boost CSA’s coffers to the tune of USD10-million. That would win back some of cricketminded South Africans’ belief that CSA had a clue what they were doing. With that would come renewed interest from sponsors, currently an endangered species.

What are the (other) roadblocks?

Lockdown regulations in both countries may not have been sufficiently lifted by August to enable Virat Kohli’s team to make the trip. If they come they are likely to have to spend 14 days in quarantine before the series and another 14 days afterwards, and spend all their time here in a sanitised biobubble. An attractive proposition, no? South Africa will be far from the only country trying to woo world cricket’s cash cows, so the lobbying for India’s presence will be intense. Graeme Smith, CSA’s director of cricket, did his bit in that regard at Thursday’s presser by punting BCCI president Sourav Ganguly for ICC president as hard as he used to hammer legside deliveries to the boundary.

That aside, what does the future look like?

CSA are considering scrapping what would otherwise be the first half of the season, and using the Mzansi Super League to get things going in January. That would look good on television, but the stark reality is that some of South Africa’s domestic players are already resorting to mental health counselling and emergency funds to pay their living costs, both provided by SACA. An already groggy game faces the distinct possibility of going down for the count for good. South Africa could become nothing more than a supplier of players to foreign teams and competitions, in the same way that baseball’s minor leagues exist only to produce individual players for the top level. The slightly better news is that CSA’s operational staff, led by acting chief executive Jacques Faul and Smith, seem to be determined not to allow that to happen.

First published by Cricbuzz.