CSA halt to colour coding too late to keep Kallis

“The entire [transformation targets] document adopted by the previous board has been put on hold.” - Judith February, CSA interim board member

Telford Vice | Wanderers

CSA’S interim board has rolled back an earlier commitment the organisation made to government to appoint black and brown consultants exclusively whenever possible. That emerged in the wake of Jacques Kallis, who is white, being signed as England’s batting specialist after working with South Africa in that capacity last season.

“The entire [transformation targets] document adopted by the previous board has been put on hold,” interim board member Judith February told reporters on Sunday. “We are taking legal advice [regarding] the document and whatever obligations CSA had in terms of it.”

On August 1, CSA director of cricket Graeme Smith said: “If you’re asking me whether Jacques Kallis was one of the best batting coaches and batting cricketers we’ve ever had, I’d tell you yes. Do I feel he has a role to play in South African cricket? Jeez, it would be stupid of us not to involve our most successful cricketer, and the batting experiences he could bring to our young batters.” But, on August 31, CSA told Nathi Mthethwa, South Africa’s sports minister, that it would in future employ only black and brown consultants unless none suitable could be found.

Nevertheless, on September 10 CSA named Neil McKenzie as its high performance batting lead and Dillon du Preez as assistant coach of the women’s team. Both are white and, just as importantly, permanently appointed. So they are not consultants.

That might have reassured figures like Kallis that his skills were still valued by CSA. But the ECB revealed his acquisition for England’s imminent Test series in Sri Lanka on December 21.

Mthethwa had also been told that transformation targets for South Africa’s team would be hiked from the current proviso of at least two black and four brown players in every XI to seven black and brown players by 2022/23, at least three of them black. The interim board said on December 3 that plan had been put on hold.

The entire board that made the decisions about consultants and transformation targets — and presided over a range of governance and financial calamities — resigned on October 25 and 26. Under Mthethwa’s guidance an interim board, headed by former constitutional court judge Zak Yacoob, was appointed on November 17.

First published by Cricbuzz.