An ex-rugby player, an ex-cricketer, a doctor and a businesswoman walk into a - no, no, no.
Despite some mirth on social media at the weekend, Cricket South Africa’s (CSA) four person panel to review ‘the performances of all national teams’, is a very serious affair indeed. As has been pointed out in this column before, the last 12 months have been wretched as far as the senior men’s national team is concerned.
As CSA’s most valued asset, the men’s team gets the most publicity and following that awful campaign in the World T20, which capped off a year of poor results, a review was a logical step for the organisation to take.
The identity of those tasked with conducting the review is interesting. Francois Pienaar, the former Springbok captain (immortalised on the silver screen by Matt Damon) and now businessman; Dawn Makhobo, a renowned businesswoman who has sat on the boards of various companies; Adam Bacher, capped in 19 Tests and also a successful businessman these days; along with Dr Ross Tucker, a well known sports scientist, make up the independent panel.
The description ‘independent’ is important here. CSA needs smart and successful people with no attachment to the organisation to assess exactly why, in the last year in particular, the national teams - senior men, senior women and Under-19s - have seen such a drastic decline in their performances.
The Test side has won just one of their last 10 Tests and while Russell Domingo would have you believe that’s mostly down to recent retirements of big name players and injuries, there must be something deeper.
If the review proves to be uncomfortable for the players, coaches and administrators, then good. Too often CSA has sugar-coated performances, highlighted bad luck or simply - publicly at least - allowed results to slide.
So, in one respect they deserve praise for establishing an independent review panel, but on the other hand it must be wondered why they didn’t have the foresight to prevent the decline that’s occurred in the last 12 months.
However, much more importantly, will be CSA’s willingness to implement whatever recommendations Pienaar, Makhobo, Bacher and Tucker make. Ultimately this whole exercise will rest on that.
Pay lip service to the panel’s findings and it was all just a waste of time - a bit like a joke that starts with four people walking into a bar - but by actually implementing the panel’s recommendations, however tough some of them maybe, will indicate a sport that’s progressive. - The Star