It’s hard to believe it was 20 years ago that South Africa welcomed India to these shores for “the Friendship Tour”.
That series, which comprised four Tests – yes, four – and seven one-day internationals, served as a welcome back to the international fold for South Africa. It was the first official Test series held here in 22 years, and the fact that it was India spoke of the deep respect that had been built up between cricket administrators from the two countries at the dawn of unity for the then United Cricket Board of South Africa.
In 2013, the relationship between India and South Africa’s senior administrators is, at best, frosty. “Friendship” seems an ancient concept.
And yet, it was as recently as four years ago that South Africa stepped in at the final hour to help save the Indian cricket money-maker, the IPL. Of course, therein also lay the root of the problems that now beset the relationship between Cricket South Africa and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).
Illegitimate bonuses acquired by Cricket SA’s disgraced former chief executive Gerald Majola led to an enormous upheaval within the administration of the organisation, ultimately ending in the appointment of former ICC chief Haroon Lorgat as CSA’s first full-time CEO since Majola.
As CSA’s process to appoint a new CEO was on the go, and it started to emerge that Lorgat was the favourite, whispers came from within the BCCI that employing him in that position would not be good for CSA’s relationship with India. Even some five weeks after he said it, it’s still remarkable that CSA president Chris Nenzani and a delegation including board members were asked to explain themselves to the BCCI at a meeting in February. “They raised certain concerns about the possible appointment of Mr Lorgat as our CEO,” Nenzani said.
Lorgat claims that when he left the ICC in June last year, it was on a “cordial basis” with the BCCI’s head honcho, N Srinivasan, the man who seems to hold the biggest grudge against him.
Having “raised certain concerns” and seen CSA ignore them, the BCCI’s vengeance has been extreme. A tour that had garnered much excitement among local fans keen to see the world’s No1 Test team on home soil against a side featuring one of the sport’s legends and a host of magnificent young stars is now in danger of not happening at all.
Granted, that seems a bit extreme at the moment – there were reports in India this week saying India were lining up tours by either Pakistan or Sri Lanka for December – but at best, the tour looks like being curtailed.
Cricket SA had released a schedule in July comprising three Tests, seven ODIs and two T20s. Claims by the BCCI that CSA had done so without consultation are wrong. There are up to 10 e-mails from the BCCI in which they outline their requirements, and once those had been agreed to, CSA felt comfortable to publicise the schedule.
At last weekend’s meeting of its working committee, the BCCI detailed India’s tour to New Zealand and England next year and also laid out plans for an in-coming tour by the West Indies – the latter ostensibly an opportunity to provide Sachin Tendulkar with an opportunity to play his 200th Test match on home soil.
Between the West Indies tour, scheduled to take place from October 31 to November 27, and the tour to New Zealand, due to start on January 21 next year, the BCCI have left a tiny window for the South Africa series, with a real possibility of it adhering to the minimum requirement of two Tests, three ODIs and a T20 International – hardly the kind of scheduled that a marquee series deserves.
Cricket SA stand to take an enormous financial hit – anywhere from R150 million to R200 million – which would severely impact on its ability to fulfil numerous developmental and commercial strategies and even future contracts for the national team.
What can the ICC do? Very little. It’s a “members organisation” – it holds the Future Tours Programme but doesn’t control that programme; the members do. It can help to persuade members to adhere to some sort of formula but it can’t dictate to them. The ICC does have a dispute resolution committee, but that will only kick in should the BCCI not take part in the tour at all.
Meanwhile, it’s not as if some minor rejigging can’t help to save the Test series at least.
CSA announced on Friday that Lorgat would meet with BCCI honorary secretary Sanjay Patel during the ICC chief executives’ committee meeting in Dubai from next Monday. It will take all of Lorgat’s diplomatic know-how to save the tour, or at the very least ensure that the three-Test series remains. It would be no surprise if officials from the boards of New Zealand and the West Indies were roped in, as the calendar does allow for some wiggle room.
A two-Test series does no justice to the standing of South Africa and India and is disrespectful to supporters – not that the administrators seem to care much for the latter.
Moving the Wanderers Test to the period around December 16, and then continuing with the Boxing Day Test in Durban and the New Year’s Test at Newlands could still see the three-Test series retained. The ODI series would be drastically reduced.
It’s a massive hit to CSA, but it’s one they’ll have to take from cricket’s big bully. - Sunday Independent