Former ICC chief executive David Richardson will be in charge of a committee that will study the domestic system in South Africa and advise if it needs a restructure or not.
Earlier this year, Cricket South Africa’s members council – made up of the 14 provincial presidents – voted to remove the franchise system and replace it with a 12-team provincial structure. The South African Cricketers’ Association took the board to court over this claiming 70 cricketers could lose their jobs as a result of the restructure.
Richardson’s committee – which will consist of the director of cricket, the chief financial officer of CSA and a representative from SACA – is expected to look into the matter and recommend a way forward. This decision was taken at a special sitting of the members council and the board on Monday. A CSA press release said “the committee is expected to report back to the board at its next meeting in the first quarter of 2020”
“Domestic cricket is an important part of our talent development pipeline in ensuring that top quality players come through the system to maintain the Standard Bank Proteas as a major force in the world game,” CSA board chairman Chris Nenzani said.
CSA has been under strife recently over the way it has conducted business and the situation was such that ahead of this meeting, the board was under pressure to resign, but they did not. There has been progress over the past few days though with Graeme Smith being appointed director of cricket and Mark Boucher taking over as head coach and the captain Faf du Plessis calling for focus to shift to on-field activities with a home series against England starting next week.