Trust has been in short supply for Cricket South Africa (CSA).
Between administrators and players. Between administrators and coaches. Between administrators and administrators.
Perhaps that’s why there was so much talk about the need for lie detector tests at last weekend’s AGM.
Trust remains an element that will haunt CSA, especially as it seeks to apply the new transformation targets announced at the weekend.
Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the new targets is how they will be measured - not on a match by match basis, but over the course of the season.
The percentages - 54 percent players of colour, 18 percent black African players - will be counted over the course of, in the case of the senior men’s team, 27 international matches; nine Tests, 14 ODIs and 4 T20 internationals.
CSA is using a new fangled phrase by which to count the numbers, playing opportunities'.
Take 27 matches multiply it by 11 players - that’s 297 playing opportunities, 161 of those must be taken up by players of colour, and 54 by black African players.
How those numbers are divided up is where the trust part comes in.
Theoretically, when listening to CSA president Chris Nenzani explain it, the national team could pick no black players for one game, and then load the side at another time with black players.
Many who have criticised CSA’s previous transformation initiatives will say the current initiatives and the way the’ll be measured are open to manipulation.
Nenzani hopes to offset that by what he called 'consequence management’, a sort of trust initiative between the coach and administrators.
And yet this week we had the selection of Temba Bavuma as an opening batsman for the one-off ODI against Ireland - a position he’s never played in at domestic level and didn’t play in on Wednesday when he turned out for the Highveld Lions in the Momentum eKasi Challenge.
How does that not look like CSA’s selectors are playing a numbers game?
Is Bavuma a genuine option as an opener for the limited overs team? I don’t think so.
Just over a year ago, Reeza Hendricks was viewed as the long-term option in that spot.
Admittedly he had a poor tour of Australia for the SA A side - scoring just 34 runs in four innings - but how do you balance that lack of form with Bavuma having never played in that spot?
Cricket SA have put themselves in a bind with these new targets. It risks worsening the already bad trust issues that exist between it and the players, it and the coaches and it and the public.
This is a very challenging season ahead on the field for the Proteas, but off it, Cricket SA is under the microscope too. Trust must be restored. Can Cricket SA be trusted?
The Star