The board of Cricket South Africa (CSA) is characterised by a ‘toxic cocktail’ of ‘arrogance and ignorance’, and should resign.
So says veteran cricketer Vince van der Bijl in a hard-hitting column on News24.
Van der Bijl writes: ‘The players and fans want SA cricket to be the best in the world. The President and Board want to stay in power. The Board has shown that they do not have the capability of strategizing and playing their role to ensure the future of cricket is on the right track. What they try to do is to hang on to benefits and riches and purport that they are doing a fine job.’
But, he says, the board ‘have taken CSA, its players, fans and all involved into its current chaotic state’.
‘To state, as Thabang Moroe did, that CSA alone make the money illustrates the absolute lack of respect for the players and the total lack of understanding of how the sponsorship process works. Arrogance and ignorance are a toxic cocktail. The current Board is both.’
Van der Bijl adds: ‘The current bosses of cricket have no idea, and they do not open themselves up to dissenting and progressive views. They can pontificate all they like, but they know of no way to fix it, as they have demonstrated.’
His advises the board: ‘For the sake of cricket in South Africa, resign your positions, right now. Do the right thing – GO!’
The objective must be to replace the current board with ‘people of all nationalities, religions, race and wealth who between them, have a mixture of the following: skills, business acumen, sports management and a genuine love of and a passion for cricket, its players, fans, match officials, scorers, clubs, schools, sponsors and everyone who loves the game’.