It’s a pretty decent time to be a South African cricket fan.

The Proteas just wiped the floor with Bangladesh, we finally have an opening pair that’s firing (sorry, Heino), and we’re about to welcome some of the world’s premier cricketers to our shores for the T20 Global League.

Yeah, about that.

Remember all those massive paydays we spoke about back in August (HERE), with the likes of Andile Phehlukwayo set to bank in excess of R1 million for their efforts?

Sorry, but that rug has been yanked from under their feet due to gross incompetence on the part of Cricket South Africa. This year’s tournament, due to kick off on November 3, has been entirely scrapped.

We are now looking at a massive gap in our summer with ZERO international cricket planned for the Proteas between October 29 and December 26.

In addition there is no domestic cricket planned either, because that’s the period during which the T20 Global League was supposed to take place.

There is the option to bring forward our domestic T20 league, or we could approach another international team to try and plug the gap, but at such short notice neither of those seems likely.

Cricinfo with the details of how this one unravelled:

It seems to come down to gross miscalculation of the worth of the product the board was proposing.

CSA had initially hoped to strike a broadcast deal of around US$20 million but had no takers. It was negotiating with SuperSport, who already hold the rights to cricket played in South Africa, as well as companies in India and the UAE.

Since the tournament was slated to take place at a time when other international teams will be in action and did not have big Indian, Australian and English names, a foreign broadcaster was a tough ask. Meanwhile, SuperSport originally believed they would have the rights even if a new tournament began and are understood to have played hardball. Some reports quoted figures of barely $6 million being offered.

How can there be such a discrepancy between what you think you will get and what is being offered? This is SABC / SAA levels of incompetence.

Let the finger pointing begin:

Pointing fingers will result in entering dodgy legal ground but on the face of it, everyone involved deserves some of the blame. The CSA will need to look into matters of the league as well as its own systems, and present the facts and a way forward.

The tournament was the brainchild of former CEO Haroon Lorgat [above], whose departure from CSA two weeks ago was partly because the board was unhappy with his actions in putting together the GLT20. [CSA’s acting CEO Thabang] Moroe said the board “does not believe it was fully appraised” of Lorgat’s activities, and there is a possibility of further investigation…

Moroe admitted to a failure of the board’s checks and balances and said it was working to gather all the information needed to understand the inner working of its own tournament.

I’m no events planner or administrative expert, but it’s probably a good idea to have a handle on how your own tournament works.

You have to feel for the players, too, because for many of our local cricketers this tournament promised a life-changing amount of money.

No one is quite sure what’s going to happen on that front:

While Moroe said “no contract with a player, coach or supplier” has been cancelled, this is not simply a case of putting deals on hold for a year. SACA [South African Cricketers’ Association] will seek compensation for the players who were contracted to the league. They expect the bill to be significant.

“A year is a long time in cricket and anything can happen in terms of player availability or circumstances,” Tony Irish, SACA CEO said. SACA was also not consulted about the postponement of the league and hopes to engage with CSA in more detail in future.

And here’s the real kick in the guts – rubbish like this makes heading overseas seem all the more appealing:

One of the key aims of this GLT20 was to provide a lucrative option for local players and dissuade them from seeking county cricket or other T20 tournaments to make more money.

With the tournament now a non-starter, CSA is powerless to keep players in the country. Already, there is talk that franchises in the Bangladesh Premier League are after some of the biggest names in South African cricket, such as AB de Villiers, Faf du Plessis and JP Duminy.

Meanwhile, Morne Morkel and Heino Kuhn have been linked with Kolpak moves.

Great, because we really need to watch more of our players head to Mud Island to cash in on the pound’s strength.

We’re at a point where we need our players trusting CSA, but the governing body seem to be stumbling along blindly from one mixed signal to the next.

The Daily Maverick with a few sharp jabs:

Just four days ago, CSA Acting CEO, Thabang Moroe, told media that the tournament “will be delivered”, promising that it would continue as scheduled on 3 November. On Tuesday, in a statement, Moroe said that the decision was “not taken lightly”…

CSA is now faced with a mammoth scheduling problem with a six week gap smack bang in the middle of prime cricket time. Moroe, curiously, used the words “the news leaking out” – suggesting, perhaps, that CSA was aware of a postponement being on the cards even when they were insisting the tournament would continue – just four days ago.

…while it will be an embarrassment for CSA, it is the players who will suffer the most, once again highlighting the complete disregard by sporting administration for those who make them their money. The conniving self-interest is jarring.

People love to harp on about not mixing sport and politics, but when it comes to sporting governing bodies in this country the parallels are obvious.

Thanks, Cricket South Africa, now we need to find another excuse to justify day drinking during November and December.

[sources:cricinfo&dailymav]