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Trent Rockets women have appointed Chris Read as their new head coach.The former Nottinghamshire wicketkeeper and captain has been promoted from his assistant role held under previous incumbent Jon Lewis, who left the Women’s Hundred side at the end of the 2025 campaign after three years in charge.Read is a cult hero at Trent Bridge, having made over 700 appearances in all formats for Nottinghamshire across 19 years, serving as club captain for 10 seasons. He earned 15 Test caps for England, alongside 36 ODI appearances.Rockets will enter the 2026 season under new management following the acquisition of a 49% stake by Cain International – whose co-founders Todd Boehly and Jonathan Goldstein are part of the consortium that owns Chelsea FC – and private equity firm Ares Management. They will run the organisation, with Nottinghamshire retaining a 51% stake.Read’s move into coaching has recently included success as with Lancashire Women, marshalling them to two trophies this year. Last week, he signed a two-year deal to remain as their head coach through to the end of 2027.Read’s coaching staff at Rockets will include another former Nottinghamshire team-mate, Luke Fletcher, as assistant coach.”It’s a deeply proud moment to take on a head coaching role based at the ground that I have a huge number of unbelievably special memories at,” said Read in a statement. “I’ve really enjoyed developing my coaching skillset with the Rockets over the last three summers, and the opportunity to continue that journey is really exciting.”I felt the impact of a sold-out Trent Bridge crowd first-hand over many years, and I know how much their support can change the course of games.”With all the fresh energy and investment into the Hundred, I’m really looking forward to starting the preparation for 2026 and beyond as we bid to deliver success.”Rockets general manager Mick Newell, who coached Read at Nottinghamshire, added: “It’s a real full-circle moment for Chris to return to Trent Bridge to lead Trent Rockets, and we’re delighted to welcome him back.”Having established himself as a true club legend here with years of outstanding service as a player, he has now shown himself to be blossoming into an excellent coach and leader too.”His fantastic start to a coaching career at Lancashire, and his experience from previous years with the Rockets, will stand him in great stead, and we can’t wait to see him in his new role.”Despite boasting a strong group, which includes current England captain Nat Sciver-Brunt, Rockets have yet to reach the final of the Women’s Hundred. Their best finish came in 2022, losing the Eliminator to Southern Brave.

South Africa dominated Ireland in the first T20I meeting between the two teams despite a performance that would need some polishing with both bat and ball.Their top scorer Aiden Markram made 39 and there were two partnerships in the 30s, but they were reduced to 115 for 5 at one stage and appeared in danger of missing out on a score around 160. Offspinner Simi Singh and left-armer Josh Little were particularly successful in keeping South Africa relatively quiet, but the rest of the attack conceded at least nine runs an over each. However, a strong finish by South Africa’s lower order took them to a competitive total. And even if the visitors were not entirely happy with their score, they had reason to be because Ireland did not look like an outfit that could come close in the chase, despite South Africa’s inability to eventually bowl them out.The hosts were 38 for 4 after the powerplay, before Tabraiz Shamsi, the top-ranked bowler in the format, had even been introduced. Shamsi took four wickets for the second time in his career – also the second time in 2021 – to become the year’s leading wicket-taker in the format so far. He tossed the ball up to bowl Singh, broke through Shane Getkate’s defences with a wrong ‘un, had Mark Adair caught on the long-off boundary and had Harry Tector stumped, as he came down the track to a googly.George Linde provided good support at the start and in the middle of the innings, but South Africa drifted towards the end with Ireland’s last pair putting on 44, their highest of the innings.Openers out? No problem, we have some more
Ireland would have been relieved to see the back of Quinton de Kock after he had faced only nine balls. He did some damage when he hit Barry McCarthy over long-on for the first six of the South African innings and Mark Adair for back-to-back boundaries, before mistiming a drive to mid-off to depart in the third over. But South Africa had another opener in reserve. de Kock’s ODI partner Janneman Malan was in at No.3 and did not get going at all before he hit Adair to Singh at mid-on.Enter a fourth opening batter in Markram, who outlasted Temba Bavuma after the captain under-edged a reverse-sweep, and also starred in the two highest partnerships of the innings. Markam and Rassie van der Dussen put on 35 for the fourth wicket before Markram and David Miller shared 36 for the fifth, and South Africa had a solid foundation to build on. They seem to have identified Markram as someone who can move around the order, and though it leaves no room for Kyle Verreynne or Heinrich Klaasen, it allows them to play all their openers in the same XI.Kagiso Rabada hit 17 off the final over, including four boundaries•Sportsfile via Getty Images

Rabada, the batter
South Africa’s coach Mark Boucher has repeatedly said he believes Kagiso Rabada is selling himself short when it comes to his batting, and Rabada seems to have taken the thought seriously. He showed his potential and his finishing skills by giving South Africa the most profitable over of the innings, which also happened to be the last one. Rabada had faced just three balls and scored two singles before Adair delivered the final six balls, but had seen enough to know what he needed to do.He dispatched a low full-toss through the covers for four, then cleared the front leg to send a full ball through midwicket, after which he drove Adair down the ground and finally pulled a slow ball to deep square leg for a quartet of fours. Doubtless Rabada had a full house of boundaries on his mind, but he was beaten by lack of pace as he tried to heave the fifth one away and finished with a single. He scored 17 off the last over, and was unbeaten on 19 off nine balls to stake a claim for a spot higher in the order.No score for O’Brien
Things are not getting any easier for Ireland’s headline batter. Kevin O’Brien has played six international matches this year and has managed just 27 runs, and followed up his no score against Netherlands last month – in what turned out to be his final ODI – with a duck again today. He was rooted to the crease when he chipped the first legal delivery he faced back to Rabada for a simple catch. O’Brien’s dismissal was South Africa’s second wicket in seven balls after Paul Stirling was bowled by Linde the ball after hitting the first delivery of the innings for six. At that stage, Ireland were 7 for 2 with both openers gone.Drop, drop, catch
South Africa’s fielding standards have not been at their highest on this trip. They dropped four catches in the second ODI to lose to Ireland for the first time, and two again in the powerplay today, though they were of little consequence. First de Kock made significant ground to try and pouch the top edge off Tector’s attempted scoop off the penultimate ball of Lizaad Williams’ first over, but the chance popped out of his hands as his elbows hit the floor.The batters had crossed and Williams had a chance to dismiss Andy Balbirnie with his next ball when the Irish captain smacked the ball to Malan at backward point. Malan dived full stretch to his right but could not hold on. Balbirnie didn’t last much longer, though. After Lungi Ngidi removed George Dockrell with the first ball of his first over, he had Balbirnie caught behind with the first ball of his second. Thus, Williams was the only bowler to go wicketless.

As Kent and Surrey players lined up on the boundary in front of the Beckenham pavilion to observe a minute’s silence to honour Andrew Symonds, they represented two clubs which had been touched by his “magic” more than most.It was on this suburban out-ground in South London that Matt Walker, the Kent head coach, can remember Symonds whacking a Hampshire attack featuring the likes of Wasim Akram and Alan Mullally into the adjoining training facilities of the Crystal Palace football club. Indeed his unbeaten 96 off 37 balls against Hampshire in the first season of the Twenty20 Cup in 2003 remains a pivotal innings in Symonds’ career.Another innings Walker shared with Symonds was arguably more of a trailblazing one, even if the true significance of it was somewhat lost at the time in an air of puzzlement about the feat and the format itself, which was still very much in its infancy. A good distance from Beckenham, deep into Kent at Maidstone, was where Symonds struck his world-record 34-ball hundred in 37 minutes against Middlesex the following season. It was the fastest T20 hundred until Chris Gayle reached the mark off 30 balls in 2013. Symonds went on to reach 112 off 43 deliveries as Kent won the rain-affected match by seven wickets with 29 balls to spare.”It was almost surreal, because it was so early on in T20,” Walker says. “No one really then knew how to play the game. It sounds really strange but those first couple of years it was so far removed from anything we’d done as cricketers. This new form of cricket came in which I think everyone was scratching their heads about how they go, some people would try the slog first, it didn’t really work out, and the game sort of passed us by and no one really quite got it. But he got it.”Surrey and Kent players observe a minute’s silence for Andrew Symonds•Kent CCC

Symonds clubbed 18 fours and three sixes in that knock, Walker came in a No. 4 with his powerfully built team-mate all guns blazing and ended unbeaten on 12.”Looking back I can’t remember a shot he played because it was so long ago, but what I do remember is there was such shellshock around the ground, especially from the Middlesex players, they couldn’t quite believe what was going on,” he says. “It was almost a sense of this is like nothing we’ve ever seen before.”Now it happens quite a bit, doesn’t it? We see it most weeks in the IPL or in our Blast and it’s quite commonplace, but bearing in mind when that was, I don’t think anyone could quite believe what they’re seeing.”It just felt like he was playing in the back garden with his kids, how easy it was, with how much power he gained, how hard he hit the ball. We just were left a bit sort of bewildered by it really. But Symo being Symo sort of walked off, bat under his arm and, ‘whatever, no big deal’.”It was Symonds’ ability to combine a larger-than-life physical presence with a down-to-earth, humble, honest persona which swept people along with him – made them feel special – that Walker remembers most from the Australian’s time with Kent from 1999 to 2004.”He was a force of nature and an incredibly talented athlete that probably could have played any sport he wanted to if he chose, and he was magic, he really was absolutely magic,” Walker says. “It was the presence he had everywhere he went… you felt unbeatable with that sort of bloke in your presence.”He made it a great place to be for those years and that period was one of the happiest I think I’ve been playing cricket, with that group of players and him in it.”Andrew Symonds on his way to 112 for Kent against Middlesex•Getty Images

During his time with the county, Symonds made 49 first-class appearances, scoring 12 centuries and amassing 3,526 runs at an average of 45.20. He also contributed 65 red-ball wickets with his right-arm seam and off-spin.Symonds also made 62 List A appearances for Kent and scored 1,690 one-day runs at an average of 30.17. His highest one-day total of 146 came against Lancashire at Tunbridge Wells in 2004 and he took 69 wickets at 21.53, including two five-wicket hauls. In 2020, he was voted Kent Spitfires’ Greatest Overseas Player by the club’s members and supporters.Speaking about Symonds’ death, just hours after the news broke late on Saturday night UK time, Walker is almost overcome with emotion initially before the memories flow and he returns to his usually verbose self.”He’ll be hugely missed,” he says. “I know that for a fact. And I can say that when he was with us at Kent, it was an amazing period of time of cricket. We won a lot of games. We were one of the best sides in the country. We won a couple of things and he was a massive part of that and my thoughts are so much with the family and especially the Australian group of players that have had such a horrible time of it.”Related

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Symonds’ death in a single-car crash in north Queensland at the age of 46 follows the deaths of Shane Warne and Rod Marsh in March. Their loss has been felt around the sporting world, and other corners of English county cricket who were moved deeply by Australian cricket’s latest loss, including Surrey, whose players stood shoulder to shoulder with Kent’s under Sunday’s leaden skies which ultimately contrived to end their Championship contest in a washed-out draw.Symonds joined Surrey for the Friends Provident T20 campaign of 2010 and Gareth Batty, then Symonds’ team-mate now Surrey’s head coach, vividly remembers the Australian’s classy response to a then 19-year-old Jason Roy scoring his maiden T20 hundred to propel their side to victory against Kent at Beckenham that season.”Andy Symonds is someone that we knew personally, we had him for a period of time at Surrey nearer the end of his career and he was very big around the group,” Batty says. “I remember Jason getting his first hundred in a T20 game and he was the one, fresh into the group, that said, ‘hang on a minute, we’ve got a young fella here, we hang around for 20 minutes and we bask in his glory with him.'”I certainly think Jason will remember that to this day. I certainly remember it and I still try and aspire to be as good a team man as he certainly was throughout his life. He’ll be sadly missed.”Symonds also played stints with Gloucestershire, where he scored 254 not out against Glamorgan in 1995, including a then first-class record of 16 sixes, and at Lancashire in 2005.”He was a brilliant, three-dimensional player but he was also very driven and asked a lot of his team-mates,” Mark Chilton, Lancashire’s director of cricket.”We caught him at a time in his career when he was flying and he seemed to affect every game in which he played. He was a cricketer who imposed himself on the opposition in a competitive way but without crossing the line. You felt his presence and he had a massive impact on what we were trying to create.”

Temba Bavuma is on track to leading South Africa at the T20 World Cup later this month. Bavuma, who broke his thumb in Sri Lanka last month, is four weeks post-surgery and is back in the nets. He is expected to be fully fit for the team’s first warm-up match, against Afghanistan on October 18.”I started batting a bit yesterday just to feel it out,” Bavuma said during the team’s departure press conference. “According to the medical team, everything is still on schedule. I am quite happy with where it’s at. It’s obviously not 100% at the moment but I am building it up and everyone is happy with the progress thus far.”Related

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If all goes as planned, Bavuma will be ready, not only to lead South Africa in a major tournament for the first time, but to make his first appearance in a global event. The sense of occasion has not escaped him. “Looking at the position I am in, I acknowledge the responsibility when leaving South African shores and knowing what I am responsible for,” he said. “And the thinking that when you come back from South Africa, things could be different; your life could be different.”From a team point of view, it’s excitement and the anxiety of experiencing something you haven’t come across. But I think it’s more excitement at the moment.”South Africa go into the tournament ranked fifth on the ICC charts and on the back of three successive T20I series wins, over West Indies, Ireland and Sri Lanka. Bavuma missed the last of those entirely after he was injured in the ODIs but kept a close eye on proceedings from home. “It was frustrating being on the side, but as much as I was on the side, I was quite engaged with the team,” he said. “I had conversations with the coach and Keshav (Maharaj, the stand-in captain), just to get to their thinking, their understanding and sharing my own ideas. I was more involved than I normally would be if I was on the side.”He was particularly pleased with South Africa’s professionalism in sweeping a struggling Sri Lankan side 3-0. “It wasn’t so much the victories but just the way they went about their business. They were super clinical with the bat and with the ball, they were very, very ruthless.’Despite those results, South Africa’s inconsistent form across all formats, and the administrative upheaval over the last two years, means that not many expect them to get out of the group stage at the T20 World Cup – they are grouped with Australia, England, West Indies and two qualifiers – and Bavuma knows it. On the one hand, the absence of any great expectations may take the pressure off, but on the other, Bavuma’s role as the first black African captain and the weight that comes with adds another layer to the burden he carries.”I don’t harp on a lot about being a black African but it is quite significant, from all angles. You talk about extra pressure, thinking about it now, it adds onto the pressure that is already there,” he said. “But it’s also a privilege that I believe I’ve been blessed to have. If the opportunity is there, and the team plays accordingly, we’d like to do something special for the country.”Kagiso Rabada and Anrich Nortje are among the players who will join the team at the end of their IPL campaigns•BCCI

This is the kind of language used by another black African captain, the Springboks’ Siya Kolisi, who led the team to victory at the 2019 World Cup, to a series win over the British and Irish Lions this winter, and back to the top of the world rugby rankings with a 31-29 triumph over New Zealand’s All Blacks yesterday. Kolisi and Bavuma share aspects of identity and a managing agency, Roc Nation, and Bavuma hopes to draw inspiration from Kolisi as South Africa head to the T20 World Cup.”Theres a lot of inspiration we can take from the Springboks. That fight that they have and the resilience they’ve showed over the years, it’s something that we admire. As the Proteas, we bank on our resilience,” Bavuma said. “I will touch base with him (Kolisi) over the next couple of days when things are settled, especially on his side.”It’s sometimes a bit bitter when you don’t know what to expect. You allow yourself to rely on hope or faith – whatever you want to call it. I don’t want to play it too much in my head. I believe I have done all I can to hold myself in the coming moments. I really don’t think I should be trying new things or trying to bring out a different Temba or a different version of myself. As I’ve always done, especially of late, it’s just to take things day by day and trust things will look after themselves, if I do the right things.”South Africa will arrive in the UAE at midnight and begin a six-day quarantine before being allowed to train. The seven members of the squad who are at the IPL will join up with them when they are freed up from that tournament, being played in the UAE too. South Africa play the opening match of the Super 12 phase of T20 World Cup, against Australia, on October 23.

South East Stars 167 for 4 (Capsey 61) beat Southern Vipers 147 for 7 (Elwiss 45, Capsey 2-9) by 20 runsSouth East Stars beat Southern Vipers by 20 runs at the Ageas Bowl in the Charlotte Edwards Cup, thanks to a boisterous half-century and a return of 2 for 9 from 17-year-old Alice Capsey.Capsey’s 61 from 46 balls, combined with useful contributions from Bryony Smith (42 from 25) and Phoebe Franklin (30 from 29), helped the Stars to 167 for 4 – the most runs conceded by Vipers in the competition. Vipers desperately missed strike bowler Lauren Bell, isolating after close contact with a Covid-positive case.In reply Vipers sunk to 32 for 3 in the Powerplay, with both openers caught trying to hit out against Capsey – Georgia Adams at short extra cover and Tara Norris at mid-on.Vipers recovered to reach 147 for 7 thanks to a smart innings from Georgia Elwiss, with 45 from 32 balls, and some late heroics from Alice Monaghan, who hit an unbeaten 30 from 17 balls and tonked the only six of the day over deep midwicket, but their early losses cost them.The win puts Stars at the top of the table with one round to go.Vipers had won the toss and chosen to field but Stars teed off early – Aylish Cranstone punishing Norris’s first over for 15 runs, before the left-armer trapped her lbw. Smith took over where Cranstone left off, hitting the ball hard down the ground as Stars racked up 56 runs in the Powerplay.By contrast Capsey started slowly with 5 from 13, but the dismissal of Smith in the ninth over – caught at long-on, handing debutant Chiara Green her first wicket of the competition – seemed to galvanise her. Two overs later she audaciously scooped Elwiss to the boundary, and followed that up by smashing three boundaries – including a lofted drive down the ground – from Norris’s next over.Capsey shared a 64-run partnership with the fluent Franklin, helped by some uncharacteristically poor fielding in the deep from Vipers. Franklin was bowled by Adams in the 17th but Capsey was unfazed, bringing up a 41-ball half-century with a single in the 19th.She was eventually run out with one ball of the innings to go after a bad fall prevented her making her ground at the non-striker’s end, and limped off clutching her quad. But she came roaring back to open the bowling for Stars to great effect.

As was widely expected, Ramiz Raja’s proposal for a quadrangular T20 event got no further than a presentation to the ICC board meeting, the board deciding such a tournament could not fit into the next rights cycle.But Ramiz, whose own future at the board is now under a cloud, took some solace from the fact that it sparked discussion among Full Members over the weekend ICC meeting, at the chief executive level first and then at the board meeting itself on Sunday.Related

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“Great discussion regarding 4 Nations series today at the ICC meet,” Ramiz tweeted. “As a concept it was welcomed and debated upon and seen as promoting the interest of the game. Fingers crossed. More when I am back at the office tomorrow.”The note of hope suggested in the “fingers crossed” sits at odds with the observations of officials at the meeting. Some members at the Chief Executives Committee (CEC) meeting earlier had signalled interest and approval of the generic idea of members hosting quadrangular events (which current regulations prohibit at the moment) but at the board level – although there was no vote – it was turned down.One official echoed Ramiz’s tweet that there were “plenty of good discussions around it and acknowledgement that from a cricketing perspective it’s a great idea.” But given that the ICC events schedule is now fixed for the next cycle and that the FTP is almost done, fitting something like this in was, in a practical sense, a non-starter in the short-to-medium term.A big driver behind that is the need for the ICC to sell its media rights for the next cycle with clarity in their schedule and no ambiguity about the number of events and new tournaments being added.There was also the small matter of the members who weren’t included in Ramiz’s proposal; that is, the eight members outside Pakistan, India, Australia and England. They were, predictably, not happy at not being considered.How much more will emerge once he s back in office, as Ramiz tweeted, is also not certain. With the dramatic removal of Imran Khan from the premiership of Pakistan in dramatic fashion on Saturday night and Sunday morning, Ramiz had lost the man who appointed him chairman as he went into the ICC meeting.Ramiz did not respond to questions on Sunday about his future but with a new prime minister to be appointed this week, logic would suggest – as has been the case with nearly every change in government in Pakistan – that he or she brings with them a new administration to head the cricket board.Greg Barclay to finish his term in November
The other significant development from the board meeting was that a new process on electing the next ICC chairman has been agreed upon in principle. That will take place in November once Greg Barclay, the current chair, comes to the end of his two-year term.Barclay became ICC chairman in November 2020, after a long and fractious process after Shashank Manohar stepped down in June that year. Barclay eventually beat Imran Khwaja after the second round of voting took place because he had been unable to secure enough votes in the first round.The nature of that win compelled the board to agree on the principles of a new voting requirement this weekend whereby a candidate with a simple majority of votes will win. When Barclay won, the process required him to win two-thirds of the board’s votes – or 11 of the board’s 16 directors.In the first round, he won 10 votes which, though comfortably more than Khwaja’s six, meant they would go through another vote. It was in that round, when CSA became his 11th vote, that he won.

Gloucestershire 320 (Higgins 73, Bracey 65, Brathwaite 60) and 14 for 0 trail Hampshire 470 (Alsop 149, Holland 114, Dawson 65, Vince 52) by 136 runsA stubborn last-wicket stand from Josh Shaw and Dominic Goodman salvaged a dramatic draw for Gloucestershire against Hampshire on an absorbing final day at the Ageas Bowl.Hampshire had looked on course for a third successive LV= County Championship victory when the pair came together with 22 overs of the day remaining and their side leading by just 11 runs.However, Goodman and Shaw soaked up 106 balls between them in a 36-run stand to frustrate the hosts who had ripped through the middle and lower order in a devastating spell after tea.Goodman, 20, who is still a student at Exeter University and playing only his second first-class match, was unbeaten on 9 having faced 39 deliveries before scoring, with Shaw 23 not out after an hour-and-20-minute stint at the crease.Gloucestershire, who were made to follow on late on Saturday, started the day on 14 for 0 with Chris Dent and Kraigg Brathwaite surviving the opening 40 minutes from Kyle Abbott and Mohammad Abbas with few alarms.But it was first-change bowler Brad Wheal who made the breakthrough when he found the edge of Dent’s bat and Liam Dawson took a brilliant juggling catch in the slips to dismiss the visiting skipper for 10.Related

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In the very next over Brathwaite undid all of his hard work when he tried to smash Dawson back over his head but instead picked out Abbott at deep mid-on.Dawson then snared the in-form James Bracey for his first single-figure score of the season when he tried to drive the ball out of the foot marks but could only divert it to Ian Holland at slip to leave Gloucestershire in deep trouble at 50 for 3.Tom Lace and Ian Cockbain steadied the ship until an hour after lunch when the former Middlesex batter, who’d played well for his 38, was brilliantly caught at slip by Joe Weatherley off Wheal.But Cockbain, a white-ball specialist, playing his first four-day match for three years, dug in manfully for 36 from 122 balls as Gloucestershire lost just one wicket in the middle session.Abbot struck immediately after the restart when he dismissed Cockbain and the dangerous Ryan Higgins before Wheal snared George Hankins and Dan Worrall in successive balls.Mason Crane then trapped Matt Taylor lbw leaving the jubilant hosts pondering a memorable victory, but Shaw and Goodman held out to deny James Vince’s side.”It’s been a tough four days,” said Ian Harvey, Gloucestershire’s head coach. “They played exceptionally well and put us under pressure from day one, winning the toss and batting first then putting on a mammoth total. Our boys had to work extremely hard for the last two-and-a-half days with the bat and we did that.”We had to dig deep today and nearly avoided the follow-on yesterday against a very good attack. Credit to them they spent a lot of time in the field and they went right at us until the end but our dressing room had to work their socks off and they did that today. Everyone had to play their part and that partnership and the end between Josh and Dom was fantastic.”Hampshire captain James Vince added: “I am immensely proud of the guys. It was a massive effort to follow on. That pitch gave glimpses of it deteriorating and then glimpses of being flat.They guys gave it everything. We dominated the game and deserved to get over the line given the way we performed, but credit to their last two there they fought well and managed to get the draw. But I can’t fault the effort, but the way we have started the season has been fantastic.”

Is it the end of cricket in South Africa?
It’s possible, at least for a while. If the government gazette containing the minister’s proposed interventions is published, then CSA will no longer be officially recognised as the game’s governing body in the country, and can no longer claim to be in charge of national teams or to hand out national colours.So South Africa won’t have national cricket teams anymore?
Potentially, yes. If CSA is no longer recognised, then existing structures, as we know them, would cease to exist. Another governing body could, possibly, be formed but it would need to be recognised by both the South African sports ministry and the ICC in order to represent South Africa in international cricket.That sounds… massive!
Yes, because this could, for example, mean sponsors and broadcasters walk away and once they do, it’s going to be difficult to get them back even if cricket does manage to get itself back on its feet. And the ripple effect will ultimately be felt not only by the players but by the broader community that makes a living off cricket. Think the stadium security guard or vendor or schools’ and development coaches.Who’s going to run cricket in the country if not CSA?
Who knows? It’s difficult to know how things will work if the governing body is not recognised. This has not happened to a sport in South Africa to date and is not something cricket has dealt with at its highest, most prominent levels.Hang on, remind me – why is this happening?
Essentially because some administrators are against having a new CSA board, which has a majority of independent members. Specifically, there are five presidents of provincial associations on the members’ council, who do not want to agree to having this majority independent board and have not fully explained why.You’re losing me. What is the members’ council?
There are two centres of power in CSA: 1. the board of directors, who resigned last year and have been replaced by an interim board put in place by the government, and 2. the members’ council, which is made up of the 14 provincial presidents and has the highest decision-making authority in the organisation. Some of these presidents also sat on the resigned board and will sit on a new board (but not all of them). Following?Sports minister Nathi Mthethwa is the man calling the shots right now•Gallo Images/Getty Images

Just about. Go on.
Now, prior to the board’s resignation, seven of the members’ council sat on the board, which had five independent directors. The new proposal for the composition of the board – which dates back to 2012, when CSA had another governance review following the Gerald Majola bonus scandal – suggests four members’ council presidents and seven independents. In short, the members’ appears to be unhappy that their representation on a new board is cut and is trying to cling to that power, though we don’t know for sure because they haven’t explained much. Probably important to note at this point is that board members earn Rand 450,000 (US$ 31,500 approx.) a year for attending meetings and enjoy several privileges including traveling to games.Okay, so it’s a power struggle in which the government has now gotten involved.
Long story short, yes.Hasn’t this been going on for a while?
Forever, it would seem.That long story is that the problems stem from the failed T20 Global League in 2017, which saw the exit of then-CEO Haroon Lorgat. Enter Thabang Moroe, under whom CSA spiralled into several crises including a high-profile disagreement with the South African Cricketers Association, issues with broadcasters, and various governance issues. A forensic report found that Moroe had spent large amounts of board money on alcohol and service providers who did not deliver those services. Moroe has since been dismissed and the board that appointed him resigned (though some of them are still part of the members’ council because… see above). But the effects of his time in charge remain. CSA is facing serious financial losses that will run into millions of Rands.In trying to sort out this mess – with the involvement of the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committtee (don’t ask, but this might help) – South Africa’s sports minister Nathi Mthethwa has intervened. Last November, he imposed an interim board on CSA, which was tasked with, among other things, putting in place the framework for a majority independent board. Which brings us back to today.You said something about a government gazette needing to be published for this to happen…
Yes, in theory, CSA continues to be the officially recognised governing body for cricket in South Africa until the gazette carrying the minister’s acts is published. That usually happens on Fridays, which means that April 30th (next Friday) is the date when CSA could officially ceases to be recognised. Things could change between now and then, of course, because it’s possible that the members’ council agrees to that board composition within the week, but we’re right at the very edge.

An intriguing final day was in prospect at the SCG if the weather plays ball after Tasmania were left a target of 290 following half-centuries of Matthew Gilkes and Jason Sangha which kept New South Wales ahead of the game.The home side declared late in the final session, leaving a target of 290 in 110 overs with the forecast not great on Monday, and claimed an early wicket when Chris Tremain continued his excellent match by trapping Caleb Jewell for a duck in the fourth over.They had started the day with a lead of 71 but were set back early when Ryan Hackney got an inside edge and Kurtis Patterson nicked an excellent delivery from Sam Rainbird.Gilkes, who was given three lives, and Sangha then added 70 for the third wicket to take New South Wales into calmer waters although Tasmania kept chipping away during the afternoon. Gilkes was bowled having a heave at left-arm spinner Tom Andrews who claimed his second when Jack Edwards chipped to cover.A fifth-wicket stand of 51 between Sangha and Peter Nevill consolidated for New South Wales before Nevill edged a lifting delivery to slip shortly before tea in a sign batting could be tricky on the final day.Sangha might have had visions of a late push towards a century but was given caught at short leg against Andrew from a delivery he clearly did not think he had hit.

Cricket South Africa has not been able to find “any evidence” that a clique of players influenced selection in the past, and stands by the robustness of its current selection policy, which came into effect in 2014. That was the testimony of Eddie Khoza, CSA’s acting head of cricket pathways, who appeared at the Social Justice and Nation-Building (SJN) hearings on Thursday and responded on a variety of issues including controversies in team selection.Asked specifically about Roger Telemachus’ assertion that a group of senior white players known as the “big five” had a big hand in selection at the 2007 World Cup, Khoza, who was not working for CSA at that time, said it was difficult to corroborate some of Telemachus’ allegations.”I do respect Mr Telemachus, he is one of the players who played for the Proteas. But the issue of a clique that controlled selection may not be entirely true, because of the policies we have in place,” Khoza said. “From where I am sitting, we tried to verify the statements that he made. We couldn’t go to Goolam (Rajah, the former team manager who died of Covid-19 earlier this year). We cannot verify some of the assertions. I have to have the confidence that the policy was followed in terms of what needed to be done. If there was a clique, we don’t have any evidence of it.”Khoza conceded the ombudsman’s assistant Sandile July’s point that if there was a “big five”, the players in that clique would not have labelled themselves as such, and that because there was no formal complaint laid at the time does not mean that the experience of players of the likes of Telemachus is invalid. But, he said, things are different now. “Things have changed. We have certain mechanisms we have put in place to detect certain issues,” Khoza said. “Our relationship with SACA (the South African Cricketers’ Association) is also at a different level. If any player cannot even speak to the union themselves to say I have this issue with CSA, I will hear from SACA.”At the time of Roger Telemachus, you have to accept that certain things might not have been in place to bring some of these concerns to the fore. It’s very unfortunate. I want to make sure everybody that comes through cricket has a positive experience. It was saddening to me listening to some of these former players, who I regard as my heroes, to hear that they went through some of these issues.”CSA’s lawyer, Aslam Moosajee, who led Khoza through his testimony, acknowledged that “Roger Telemachus may have suffered from the fact that prior to 2014, there were no clear guidelines on who was ultimately responsible for selection”.Related

• SJN report says CSA discriminated against players on the basis of race

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The 2014 policy, which excludes the captain from having a vote in selection, came into place after Hussein Manack, a former selector who also appeared at the SJN, proposed that CSA formalise the process. Manack’s testimony focused largely on the non-selection of Khaya Zondo for an ODI in India back when AB de Villiers was captain – de Villiers was adamant that an out-of-form David Miller play ahead of Zondo. Khoza said not picking Zondo at the time was a “missed opportunity, especially with the challenges we are faced with trying to encourage black African batters to come to the fore. At the time, Zondo was performing. If we would have taken the opportunity then, how many aspirations of young cricketers would we have reached out to?”He clarified that a formal complaint was lodged in the Zondo instance and that CSA put in place a subcommittee to investigate. “They felt it was unfair but not on the basis of race,” Khoza said. “But we still missed an opportunity.”Khoza maintained that selection is a complex and subjective process, and that CSA is continually refining its process. “Selecting is a very contentious issue. It doesn’t matter which sport. When it comes to cricket, there’s different views because you are not only playing here at home but you are also playing away and the strength of the type of combinations you might find might differ,” he said. “It’s an issue that’s why we normally leave it to independent people to facilitate for us. We need to make sure they are assertive enough and the bridge between them and the players is brought closer so that there is a better understanding.”The hearings are expected to conclude tomorrow, with the end of CSA’s submission and a guest appearance by Michael Holding. Among those whose responses have not been heard are director of cricket Graeme Smith and former captain AB de Villiers. Both have submitted written affidavits, which have not yet been made public.