No change, please - we're South African

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TELFORD VICE, Johannesburg

You would be forgiven for thinking that, here at the sharp end of Africa, where we talked much more than shot our way out of almost four centuries of racial oppression into something approaching democracy, we are open to change.

We are not. South Africans of all colours and creeds would rather that everything stayed the same. Change? Change is for parking meters and beggars and politicians - who scratch change off the agenda the instant they are elected.

Change is not what gets us out of bed. This is because we are what we think we hate: conservative.

Which is part of the reason cricket is played and followed by South Africans of every racial and cultural stripe. It is the game of those trapped in the aspic of long gone days, and that is the way we like it.

Twenty years from now, we will talk about seeing the last Test innings of Graeme Smith and Jacques Kallis with far more fondness - and far less accuracy - than current players with years of fine performances left in them.

In that sense, everyone who truly holds cricket dear should thank the Indian Premier League (IPL) and all its garish excesses for proving that cricket belongs in the 21st century. That the IPL takes so much flak is ammunition for the argument that the game has no future.

But South Africans should brace themselves: change is coming, ready or not. And it will shake up the game from top to bottom in this country.

For JP Duminy, the process is well underway. “I don’t think it starts now; it started a couple of months ago with ‘Jakes’ (Kallis) stepping down (in December),” he said.

“There has already been some added responsibility for me, not maybe as much in Tests but definitely in the shorter formats and I have really enjoyed it. I know this season is going to determine whether I can sustain that responsibility. It’s going to be a tough season for all of us so we are going to have to manage ourselves well.”

Managing Smith’s removal from the equation looms even larger for South Africa than handling Kallis’ Test retirement. Kallis’ contribution is far more easily measurable in runs and wickets and slip catches than what, besides runs, Smith brought - confidence, brashness, dominance, a discernible South African way of cricket. It will be up to players like Duminy to keep those flames flickering.

“I’ve gained enough experience to know what to expect and passing on that knowledge will be important,” he said. “But it’s also important for guys to learn through experience. We’ve all had to find a way to deal with things on our own and, of course, through senior players. But the best way to learn is through experience - the quicker we can learn that way, the better.”

So much for the change at the top. At the bottom, the change that is afoot promises to scare the reactionaries out of the woodpile.

For 10 years, the unofficial race quota in senior domestic matches in South Africa has been that teams have been expected to include four players who are not white. Next season, in the words of an unusually clear Cricket South Africa (CSA) press release, “franchises will be required to field at least five players of colour in all competitions, two of whom must be black African”.

The same release quoted CSA’s chief executive, Haroon Lorgat, as saying, “It is a fact that we have still not succeeded in unlocking the vast cricket talent among black African people and next season we will expect the affiliate (provincial) and franchise presidents, chief executives and their coaches to assume direct responsibility to do so.”

Damn straight. As much as we talked our way out of civil war in South Africa, so the country we talked ourselves into being cannot call itself a democracy until the gap between rich and poor - not simply black and white - is narrowed appreciably.

Similarly, cricket cannot call itself a national sport in this country until the XI it dares to call the national team looks like the nation. That matters infinitely more than winning.

Yes, you might have seen these drums being beaten under this byline before. Yes, you will see that happen many more times yet if you keep reading.

But here’s something new. This year, eight members of South Africa’s under-19 World Cup squad of 15 were something other than white.

None of the senior squads South Africa have named since re-admission in 1991 have been majority black. And, unlike this year’s under-19s, none of those senior squads have won a World Cup - even the ones that included Kallis and Smith.

The under-19s did not win because most of their players were black. They won because those players were not overlooked.

Too often, black players are ignored because picking them would mean that awful thing: change.