In 1960, at the age of 18, I made my debut for Transvaal. In April of 1961 the Transvaal captain captain, Johny Waite, probably South Africa’s best ever wicket keeper batsman, phoned me.

He had accepted an invitation to select a Transvaal eleven to play a 2 day match against a Black team on a sand field with a matting wicket, not far from where ABSA headquarters is located today.

Our team  consisted of some Springboks including Johny Waite, Syd O’ Linn, Russell Endear, Ken Walter, Derek Varnals and myself, a formidable line up.

It was a two innings match and I recall I score topscored in one of the innings with a score of about 35.

The black team had 2 of  the Bhamjee brothers in their ranks. Also a line opening bowler in George Langa and a talented young spinner by the bane of Tiffy Barnes.

We were soundly beaten and on the Monday, in the STAR newspaper, Louis Duffur, the doyen of cricket writers in the country at the time, reported the result and remarked that our team looked  after a long season! In fact we had only played  6 provincial matches that summer.

In 1970, I was honoured to captain South Africa as we defeated Australia at home 

4-0. We had an outstanding team and I often wonder how much better we could even have been had black cricketers been considered for selection for the national team.

The unification of  SA Cricket took place in 1991 and for the major part of the 1990’s our national cricket team was dominated by white players. Where were those talented Black cricketers that I had played against in 1961.

The reason I am told is quite simple. In the 80’s when apartheid was at its brutal peak and with many ANC leaders either in Robben Island or in exile many Black cricketers and administrators out of necessity, assumed political roles and in simple terms were forced to take their eye off the ball.

In 2020 SA Cricket at national level is governed by two bodies, namely the members council comprising representative from each of the 14 affiliates. A CSA board comprising 7 non independent members. It is within this structure that the suspended CEO Thabang Moroe has been paid a staggeringR356,000.00 per month since December 2019 when he was suspended. Don’t blame Moroe for this obsene payout but rather those members of CSA who were party to it. Both structures are unwieldly cumbersome and do not inspire confidence around the country.

TIME FOR A CHANGE?

The best board I served on was the 2003 Cricket World Cup Board. It had an outstanding Chairman in the late Prof Jakes Gerwel, the best Chairman I ever had.

The Board comprised five independent members, South African who loved the game, were highly respected and had made their mark in finance, retail, marketing and International finance. There were also five senior members of the CSA Board.

It is estimated that the majority of our outstanding cricketers down the years have come from 30-35  what I would call Cricketing schools.

So Makhaya Ntini came from Dale College, Kagiso Rabada from St Stithians College, Lungi Ngidi from Hilton College and Themba Bavuma from St David’s School.

I went to KES where during the summer Cricket was played 6 days a week. In Soweto young Cricketers, at best will play Cricket on a Saturday.

It is therefore a no-brainer that when a young talented Cricketer is identified in the disadvantaged areas, the coaches and provinces should move heaven and earth to get that Cricketer to one of those 30-35 High Schools.

Dr Ali Bacher, former CEO United Cricket Board (UCB1991-2000) CEO 2003 Cricket  World Cup,